Simply Fate
by LaylaG12
Summary: Kim has liked Jared Cameron since she was ten. Her crush was unnoticed by all, even Jared himself. Kim knew her feelings were pointless until one day when Jared walks into History class and suddenly can't stop looking at her. They both have secrets and Kim knows it would be best to avoid him...too bad those fluttering feelings won't go away.
1. Obsession

**Don't own anything except OC's.**

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**Simply fate.**

**Chapter 1: Obsession**

**Kim POV**

I was late.

My alarm clock decided today to be a pain in the ass and ran half an hour later than I actually needed to get up. I didn't even have time to go in the shower, I just grabbed all my things, shoved on some clothes and sprinted downstairs and into the kitchen in a panic. However, due to my franticness, I tripped on the last stair and smashed into the kitchen doorframe with a loud _bang_.

My younger brother calmly looked up from his cereal. "Morning, Kim," he said simply, carrying on finishing what I was sure to be today's homework.

"You okay there, Kim?" my sister asked, though the amusement shining in her eyes cancelled out the concern.

"I'm late," I mumbled into the wall.

"We've got ten minutes, calm down, crazy woman," Mike laughed brightly.

Glaring at him, I rubbed my arm that I had bashed off the wall and walked forward to grab a banana. I hastily chomped on it as I packed my school bag for the day, mentally checking off everything I needed. With three minutes to spare, I shoved my siblings into my rusty black car and went off to school. Before I had even parked properly, Mike had run off to be with his friends without so much as a goodbye, whilst Anna-Marie gently waved and then ran over to her best friend, who I knew to be named Meagan. Sighing, I tightened my knitted jumped around my body and made my way into the building.

"Hey, Kim," my best friend, Erin, chirped, leaning against the locker next to mine. "How's it going?"

"Okay," I replied shortly. Apparently, it was all Erin wanted to hear anyways, and she started to prattle on about what she had done at the weekend. We had English first, which, sadly, I sat next to Erin in so I got the whole rundown on the party she and her sister had crashed in Forks, resulting in Erin ending up in hospital after a guy she had been with twisted his ankle.

At break we had to stay inside because, surprise-surprise, it had started to bucket down. I was leant against my locker still listening to Erin when he walked past. He was smiling and laughing at something his friend had said, showing of his perfect white teeth that contrasted brilliantly with his russet skin. In the crappy lighting of the hallways, his raven hair shined, and even from here I could see the bright sparkle of his deep brown eyes.

"Kim?" Erin waved her delicate hand in my face. "Kimberly, stop staring, you stalker!"

I shook my head and turned to her. "What?" I asked blankly.

"You're, like, outright ogling Jared... again," she sighed heavily. "Seriously, Kimmy, you need to get out more."

I blushed what was sure to be bright red. "I wasn't staring," I muttered needlessly.

"Yeah, and I'm secretly a badger."

The bell rang so my torture ended there. I rushed off to my next period with a small goodbye and quickly took my seat at the back end of the class. I doodled in my notebook for most of the lesson, eager for the bell to ring. History was next, which made this lesson pass by even slower than usual.

And why could I not wait for History?

It wasn't because I was some super historian and loved everything about the past that had shaped the world. In fact, I hated History. I could never remember the correct dates for the correct time periods or occasions and wars. I always mixed up people's names and faces, and don't even _try _to ask to me write an essay on something. The only reason I loved History was because it was the only time I sat next to Jared Cameron.

Sad, huh?

My crush –_cough_obsession_cough_—on Jared had started when I was ten, almost six years ago. We were mere fifth graders when I first noticed Jared, and once I did I never stopped. I had just picked a lilac flower from the ground near the playground and dropped it, making it flow through the wind. It stopped near Jared's feet and when I bent down to pick it up, he beat to it, carefully pinching the stalk with his long fingers and then putting the delicate flower behind my ear. I had looked up in shock and Jared had sent me the most brilliant, happy smile I had ever seen in my life, and I had never forgotten it, or him. The flower had stayed there for the rest of the day until I got home and my mom freaked out, snatching it away (and pulling several hairs from my head) and throwing it into the bin, muttering something about how flowers carry disease ridden insects. I cried for two hours.

However, a massive flaw in my crush was that Jared had never taken interest in me. After that day he seemed to forget all about me again and has never really talked to me since. Sure, he had asked to borrow pen or asked me what an answer to a question was, but he had never actually spoken to me outside History class.

I understood it, of course, Jared was the popular football player while I was the quiet girl that people loved to tell about their problems. According to many, I had one of "those faces". One of the faces that made people behind check outs and random people from classes you barely know tell you all about their life problems. It could be good and bad. Good because I got to know all the gossip around school and town, bad because it was intimidating for people to tell you everything and not want to hit them in the face with a plank of wood.

The bell rang and I all but ran from the classroom and into the History room. I was the first one there, so I timidly smiled at the teacher and then took a seat third row back, second from the right. People began to pile in, including Erin who ruffled my hair affectionately as she passed, and then Jared walked in.

He was chatting with a friend and continued to chat as he took a seat next to me, loudly plopping his books onto the table as he booming with happy laughter. As sneakily as I could, I watched him smile and make jokes with some guys on the row beside us.

He was beautiful. Far too beautiful to take any interest in me.

When he turned his body to the front of the class when the lecture started, my heart started to beat faster. His leg had brushed against mine in the transaction, making his jean clad knee brush against my black linens. He didn't even realize that he had almost made me have a heart attack.

I couldn't concentrate on the lesson (when could I ever?) and just tried not to embarrass myself in front of Jared. When the bell rang, he gathered up his books and swished out the classroom, his gingery scent lingering after him.

Erin knocked me on the shoulder, breaking my daze. "Come on, my socially awkward best friend, we have lunch," she smirked, winking at me.

Blushing dramatically, I followed just behind her as she waved and bumped fists with random people we passed. Erin was popular around the school, pretty and on the track team, making me wonder many times why I was her best friend. However, she faithfully stuck by my side with a bright smile on her face and had been since we were five and started kindergarten together.

"We need to have another sleepover," Erin said as we sat down with the gross-looking stuff we called lunch. "We'll have another with Anna and Tina again."

We both smiled at each other, remembering the last time us and our sisters had a sleepover together. Erin's older brother, Ark, convinced their parents to go away for the weekend and he threw a party. We ended up slightly drunk and jumping off the conservatory roof onto the trampoline in their backyard. It was one of the weirdest and best nights of my teenage life.

As Erin started up a story about a T.V. show she had been watching, I couldn't help but let my eyes wonder over to Jared. He was with all his friends at the lunch table, spooning the watery crap that was meant to be rice-pudding with a disgusted look on his face.

"Were you even listening?" Erin sighed when I turned my attention back to her.

"Of course."

"Tell me what I _just _said."

"…Were you even listening?"

That earned me a glare.

The rest of the day passed by slowly and I didn't even have seeing Jared again to look forward too. By the time the day had ended, I was extremely tired and dying to go home. I beeped repeatedly for twenty minutes until Mike got into the car.

"God, Kim, do have to be so annoying?"

I threatened to chuck him out of the car so he shut up. When I got home my parents were still at work, where they would be until late tonight, so I watched T.V. with my siblings and finished off some homework. That night, I dreamt of deep brown eyes.

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**My first chapter of my Kim and Jared story, yey! I've been talking about this for ages and now it's finally up!**

**Tell me what you think, like it, hate it? **

**-Laylax**


	2. Staring

**Don't own anything except OC's.**

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**Chapter 2: Staring**

**Kim's POV**

The next day, Jared wasn't in school. Or the next, or the next, or the one after that… two weeks passed and still, no Jared.

Was it weird that I was starting to worry?

The amount of times I had talked to Jared could be present on my fingers, and yet I couldn't help but worry about what, where and why he was gone. Was he sick? Had he dropped out? Was he just skiving off? I had so many unanswered questions that no one could answer. Whenever the subject of Jared was brought up, so many different stories were produced that I didn't know which one to believe.

Some people thought he was on steroids, some swear they had seen him hanging around with Sam Uley, who people say belonged to a gang, and others think he is off selling drugs. They were just some of the stories, the others were so ludicrous and stupid I didn't even pay attention to them (someone seriously said that they think he was abducted by aliens).

I awoke to the bleeping of my alarm and had to reach out and smack it five times before it shut off. I contemplated pretending I was sick for the day and just sleeping, but was overruled when I heard Anna-Marie banging on the door screaming for me to get up. Once showered and ready, I went to get breakfast and was surprised to see my parents near the front door.

"Good morning, Kimberly," mom greeted me idly. Dad walked away and ignored me, too busy shouting into his earpiece phone.

"Morning mom," I replied instantly. "What are you still doing here?"

"We have a meeting so we have a late start," mom answered shortly. "And now your father is making us late by ringing people when we should be driving!" she called, aiming a glare at my dad, who chose to just ignore her.

"Oh." I said disappointedly, though I didn't know why. "So did Anna-Marie tell you about her Math test?"

"Yes. She got a B. I have to say I'm quite shocked. I expected more from her."

Why did that not surprise me?

"I thought she did very well, actually, mom. Math is extremely hard this year," I said, knowing it could do nothing but having to try anyways.

My mom pursed her lips. "Yes, well, I expect more from _my _children."

"Of course, mom."

We stood in awkward silence for a while. My mom tapped her foot impatiently on the ground and shot my dad annoyed glances every five seconds while I stood shuffling my feet, wanting desperately to leave but not having the guts to. Dad finally clicked off his earpiece and my mom huffed.

"Finally," she snapped at dad before flinging open the door and storming out.

Dad grunted deeply. "Honestly, be quiet, Bethany. It was an important phone call and your constant child-like puffing wasn't helping me." Then he was gone, too.

_Goodbye, then_.

"Where's the math test gone?" I asked when I saw that it was no longer on the fridge where Anna-Marie had proudly hung it only yesterday night.

She shrugged. "In the bin. I don't know why I got so excited, it was only a B."

I opened my mouth to respond, but Mike shook his head and gave me a look that said "I've already tried". Sighing, I got myself a bowl a cereal and watched as my sister moodily stared at her orange juice as she swished it around the cup.

My parents ruined everything.

"Kimmy!" Erin screeched as soon as she caught sight of me. "Going for the wet look today?" she chuckled, picking up a strand of my wet raven hair with her fingers.

"If you haven't noticed, Erin, it's raining," I replied, smiling slightly.

"It's always raining," she scoffed bitterly. "I'm _so _moving somewhere sunny when I get older!"

I smiled at her, but didn't agree. I loved La Push. Unlike most of it inhabitants, I didn't crave to get away from the small town. Whenever I went away with my parents on holidays I could only last around three days before I wanted to be at home again. There was just something about La Push that made it magical and, in my opinion, nowhere else would feel like home.

Against my better judgement, I couldn't help but look for Jared again as I went about my day. I tried to pretend I didn't care where he was, but I just ended up searching anyway, so there was no point in kidding myself. At break I went to swap my books over without my usual perk as I knew Jared wouldn't be sitting next to me today in History, making the concept of school feel incredibly pointless.

I slammed my locker shut harder than I intended, making a freshman behind us scream in fright.

"Ooohhh, someone's moody about not getting their Jared fix," Erin sung, giggling wildly.

"Shut up," I hissed, smacking her arm with my History book. "Someone might hear you!"

"I hardly think anyone is really interested, Kimmy," she said bluntly, raising her eyebrows. "They're too busy with their own sad lives."

"You're too kind to me, you know that?"

She smirked at my sarcasm. "I know."

Next lesson ticked by agonizingly slow and then History came along. Instead of rushing to get there, I stayed back, slowly gathering my bag and walking at a normal pace to the History room. People were already sat when I got there, all whispering and giggling excitedly about something or other. Jett Walker probably cheated on his girlfriend again.

"I can't believe how _hot _he is!" Cindy Mane squealed from the table to the right of me.

"I know, right? Jared was never that good looking before."

Just like that my interest peaked.

"What?" I blurted before I could stop and think.

Cindy and her friend turned to me, Cindy, who always told me the latest gossip even if I didn't want to know, smiled at me and her friend scowled like I wasn't worthy of her time. "_What_?" her friend spat.

"Jared's back?" I questioned, fighting to keep the happiness out of my voice.

"Yep!" Cindy popped her lips, eyes bright. "And he's, like, grown _loads_."

"What do you mean?"

"He's like the hulk or something!" she shouted, catching the attention of some guys behind us. I blushed at their stares and shook my head so my hair covered my face. "His muscles are _a-mazing_! And he's grown at least a six inches!"

Her friend, who looked like she now thought I was worthy of her time after realizing I was kind-of friends with Cindy, grinned at me. "He's like a Greek God or something. Totally doable now."

I scrunched my nose and sat back in my chair at the thought of Jared being _doable_ to her. And what did she mean by doable _now_? Jared had always been doable, gorgeous, amazing, drool-worthy...

_Getting off track._

Blinking, I shook my head and tried to focus on the present time. My eyes flickered to the door, a glimmer of hope shuttering through me with every person that walked through the door. When I was just about to give up hope, he waltzed through the doorway.

_Holy. Shit._

I thought he was stunning before, but now he was a whole different level of hot. He had grown from just under six foot to well over, around six four—six five. His body looked like he had spent the last year working out none stop at the gym, his thick, round muscles clearly visible under his tight light blue tee-shirt. His russet skin seemed to glow more than before, and he had buzzed his raven hair so it was only about two centimetres long.

Surely it couldn't be possible for something to be so perfect? Was I dreaming? Hallucinating?

Murmurs broke out into the classroom and a girl to the left of me even wolf-whistled. Like most of my classmates, all I could do was stare open-mouthed at him as he walked forward and—**_shit_****—**took a seat next to _me._ My face reddened straight away and I looked down to my notebook, quickly making myself concentrate on doodling something. When my wrist stopped moving I looked down to what I had drawn, horrified when I saw I had put _Kimberly Cameron_ in scrolling letters cocooned in a heart.

I let out a quiet scream and slammed my book shut before I looked at Jared, praying that he hadn't been watching me. Bad idea. When I looked at him, I got caught up in the curve of his nose, his rugged profile and the way his lips pouted slightly. After five minutes of none-stop staring, Jared scrunched his eyebrows together and turned. My heart jumped into my mouth at being caught looking and I flushed bright red, whipping around to watch the teacher do the lesson.

I felt him still looking at me and dared to glance his way. He wasn't scowling or glaring like I thought he would be, but instead he was gazing at me with the happiest expression I had ever seen in my life, including the one he had sent me back when I was ten. He looked utterly euphoric. My insides flipped and twisted, making goose-bumps break out all over my skin. Heart pounding, I turned away again, only to glance back two minutes later and catch him still watching me.

I started to feel very self-conscious, did I have something on my face? Feeling sweaty, I reached up and, as calmly as I could, brushed my hand over my face, then I cleaned my teeth with my tongue, just in case.

Nope, he was still staring.

Was he looking at someone behind me? I peeked around the room, but saw people writing notes, flicking paper airplanes at each other and doodling on their hands or notebook. No one was even looking at Jared, or me, anymore.

"Kimberly?" Mr Horan called, making me look up from my book. He was standing above me with his eyebrows raised. "Homework, please?"

"Oh, right," I muttered, finding the three page essay I had to write and handing it to him. He rolled his eyes at me and then went onto the people behind us.

And you know what? Jared continued to stare.

I should have been freaked out and started to slap him across the face, but I felt kind of... flattered? It was the first time he had ever taken notice of me before and I wanted to reel in it before he figured out whatever the hell he was doing and went back to not noticing me again.

"Kim?"

My eyes widened slightly at the deep rumble of his voice. I cleared my throat and swallowed thickly. "Y-yeah?"

_Oh, God, he's smiling at me!_

"That's a beautiful name for a beautiful girl," he said lightly.

I'm pretty sure I almost fainted.

_Did he seriously just say that to me?_

I was too shocked to respond, so I turned to the board, my jaw unable to be picked up from the floor. Jared Cameron had just called _me_ beautiful. Was this some kind of joke?

When the bell rang I picked up my things and tried to escape possibly the most awkward situation I had ever been in, in my life. I joined the mass of students pushing their way into the hallway but was stopped.

"Kim."

Jared's boiling hot hand was gently gripping my upper arm and forcing me to look at him. I felt my face heat up as he grinned down at me.

"Yes?" I barely whispered.

"Would you like—"

He was cut off by someone brutally grabbing my tee-shirt and dragging me off into the hallway. Stumbling over myself repeatedly, I was pulled down the hallway and pushed up against a locker like I had done something terribly wrong.

Erin looked at me as if I had told her aliens were invading.

"What the _hell _was Jared doing talking to you?!"

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**Thoughts?**

**Thank you for the reviews, favourites and alerts! Exams have been stressful lately but reading your reviews made me smile :) **

**-Laylax**


	3. Inner debates

**Don't own anything except OC's.**

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**Chapter 3: Inner debates**

**Kim's POV.**

"He called you _beautiful_?!"

I glared at her. "Could you shout that any louder? I don't think some people in England heard you properly."

She sent me an apologetic look. "Sorry, but _what_? Jared looked at you like you were the Mona Lisa and then called you beautiful? What the hell is going on with him?" she questioned, leaning in like she was telling me a huge secret. "He comes back looking like he's on steroids and then acts like he's been hit over the head with a sledge hammer? There's definitely something fishy going on, Kim."

"Like what?"

"Maybe he was abducted by aliens," her lips tugged in the corners. "And they probed him so much he's gone slightly insane," she giggled when I snorted. "It's just weird that it took him all this time to notice you, isn't it? I mean you've been crushing on his for, what, five years? And it's took him till _now_ to realize you? In my opinion he should have noticed you were beautiful sooner than now, Kimmy."

I smiled at my best friend. "Maybe you were right about the alien thing," I shrugged, ignoring the sinking of my heart. "It's probably just a fluke. He'll never speak to me again now."

"He doesn't deserve you anyway, Kim."

My shoulder slumped and I smiled slightly at her, though I thought she was wrong. She beamed widely back at me and started to plan the sleepover we had been talking about having for the past two weeks. We ate lunch on the bench outside the Art/Drama room as Erin didn't want to run into Kristy, a girl she had apparently splashed with a dirty puddle this-morning, indulging in some crappy vending machine food that cost way more than what it was worth.

The rest of the day I spent daydreaming about Jared and rerunning his deep voice calling me beautiful over and over again in my head. The more I thought about it, my mind came to the conclusion that he was definitely on some type of delusional drugs. I didn't get to see Jared, which disheartened and relieved me, and I raced through the light rain to get to my car.

"Kim?!"

I turned and squinted through the thin droplets only for Jared to suddenly pop into my view. My heart skipped a beat and I unconsciously tightened my jacket.

"I—is there something wrong?" I breathed, breath catching in my throat.

"No, of course not," he chirped—yes, chirped. His plump lips were stretched into a wide, knee-wobbling grin. "Just—how are you?"

_What?_

Jared, a.k.a. the guy I had fancied since I was ten-years-old and yet I had only spoken to a handful of times, is asking me _how I am_? He had never cared before about how I was. In fact, he gave off the impression that I could have died and he wouldn't have realized, yet now he was chasing me down the high school parking lot to ask me how I am.

What was going on with the world? More importantly, what the hell was going on with Jared?

"O-okay, I suppose," I replied, my eyebrows scrunching on their own accord.

"Great."

The weird thing? He said that as if it actually was _great_ that I was okay. It wasn't just a flippant "great" what people would usually say, but like he was genuinely happy that I was okay.

I was over-thinking this, surely.

"KIMBERLY!"

I looked away from staring wide-eyed at Jared to see my sister waving manically near my car as if I couldn't see her from only ten feet away.

"Bye." I threw over my shoulder quickly, running to Anna-Marie like she was my life line. I hopped into my car, slamming the door so hard Mike jumped out of his seat in fright. He sent me a rough glare and moodily turned to the window, but I was too busy trying not to faint to care.

It took me five minutes to regain breath and for me to start the car. I was only half concentrating on the roads (something my late great-grandmother would hit me for) as I drove home. Mike was chatting on about soccer practice in gym and Anna-Marie grinned slyly at me, her dark eyebrows raised in question. I ignored her and tried to listen to Mike, but the knowing glances she was sending me through the rear mirror were distracting me greatly.

"What was Jared talking about?" Anna-Marie questioned as soon Mike was out of hearing distance.

"What?" I asked dumbly. Maybe if I acted cool, she'd drop it.

She rolled her eyes. Apparently when I tried to act cool I came across as stupid. "You _know_, Kimmy. You've been crushing on him since forever and now you've finally got his attention. What'd you do?"

"Nothing."

She huffed. "_Fine_, don't tell me. I'll find out one day, Kimberly, and then I'll hold it against you for the rest of your life."

"Well, if you find out, please tell me the answer."

She rolled her eyes at me again and walked off into the kitchen. Honestly, I didn't know what I had done to suddenly gain some attention from him. Jared had never paid attention to me before, but, in all fairness, I hadn't done anything to grab his attention. I didn't put myself out to talk to him (even if he did talk to me I would have ended up looking like an embarrassed tomato), I didn't hang out with any of his friends, I didn't do or say anything to make myself stand out.

Had I done something different today? I ran the day's events through my head and tried to think if I did anything out of the ordinary. The only out-there thing I had done today was eat on the bench instead of in the lunch hall (wow, I really needed to get out more). Even then, Jared had noticed me before I had eaten on the bench anyway, so (by some bizarre slight chance) even if it was that, why did he pay attention to me in History class? Why did he call me _beautiful_?

It was strange even thinking of the word. No one had ever called me beautiful before, not even my parents. Anna-Marie and Erin called me "pretty" or "cute", but beautiful? That wasn't a word that described plain-Jane Kim Connweller, especially by the sex-God that was Jared Cameron. Being called beautiful caused some mixed emotions—flattery, confusion, happiness, awkwardness. And because the compliment (?) came from Jared Cameron's (perfect) mouth, it caused those emotions to strengthen tenfold.

No matter how much I wanted to believe that I had been thrown into a fairy-tale-like world and that my long term crush had finally noticed me and we would ride off into the sunset together with a couple of kids under our belt, I couldn't help but think about unbelievably weird it was. Had he really had an epiphany and realized I was his perfect girl? Or was this all one big joke to him?

It probably was. One of his friends had probably pointed out my cringe-worthy crush and Jared was now messing about with me for the benefit of entertainment. I wasn't going to submit to his games. I wasn't going to become the laughing stock of the school.

But what if he really did like me?

_No._

The thought alone was stupid. Jared Cameron didn't like girls like me. He liked girls like Amy Jenson, Nicole Rockman and Hannah Ashworth. They were all gorgeous, out-going, party girls that loved having fun more than they did getting good grades. I was the total opposite to any of the girls Jared had dated in the past. So unless Jared had been hit by a meteor that had completely 180ed his personality, I was out of luck... not that I was in luck in the first place.

"Kim? Do you want some food?"

I looked away from the wall at my sister's voice. My feet moved on their own accord until I was in the kitchen watching as Anna-Marie shuffled around some bowls and Mike scribbled down some homework.

"Yeah, thanks."

She smiled at me and Mike asked me to help him with some Math.

My life was too complicated for someone like Jared anyway. From what I knew, Jared had loving parents, a good house near the beach and a cute little sister that I often seen him picking up from the elementary section of the school building. He'd probably run after the first meeting of my over-bearing, rude parents, and if not, then he'd run after realizing I was the only person to look after my siblings. Anna-Marie and Mike were my family, in my ways they were my life. Jared wouldn't be able to handle that anyway.

Would he?

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**Thoughts?**

**Thank you so much for the reviews, favourites and alerts! I really love my readers! Hope you like this chapter, next one will be out soon :) **

**Also, if any of you have any questions you want to ask, please don't hesitate to ask! I'd love to answer them!**

**-Laylax**


	4. Brilliant plan

**Don't own anything except OC's. **

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**Chapter 4: Brilliant plan**

**Kim's POV**

I had a brilliant plan.

It was so amazing and wonderful, it was fool-proof.

I was going to pretend nothing happened.

Brilliant, right?

I thought about what to do all last night during dinner, when I was finishing off homework and all through the night when I was trying to get to sleep. At around one in the morning I came to the great decision of just pretending nothing happened, therefore my life doesn't have to change and neither do my siblings lives. Jared was probably just all hyped up from the atmosphere of the school and thought I was someone else.

So the next morning I went through my usual routine of shower, getting ready, packing my bag and breakfast before shoving my siblings into the car. Even though I convinced myself nothing was out of the ordinary my heart still sped up when we entered the parking lot. I walked to my locker extra slow, contemplating just running back into my car and rushing off home.

"Hi," Erin sung from her usual place beside my locker. "How's life?"

"Normal."

At least, I was trying to tell myself it was.

Erin happily chatted away as we walked to lesson and, against my will, my eyes couldn't help but seek out Jared in the hallways. It was almost an unconscious thing, I was so used to doing it that my eyes just moved automatically, even when I was trying to avoid him. Erin didn't pick up on my wandering eyes, as usual, and just continued with her story about how her rabbit chewed through their fence and into her neighbour's backyard.

Erin and I had to spilt up for next period, she had Art and I was too clumsy for stuff like that, so I waved at her before entering Social Studies class. The guy I sat next to, Kenneth, made small talk with me all period and I politely replied when deemed necessary. Afterwards I went to change over my books for the next periods over break when I felt someone loom over me. I thought it was Erin and I turned to her with a smirk, but my heart dropped when I noticed that Erin was nowhere to be seen.

"Hey, Kim." _Jared_ smiled like it was normal for him to be stood beside my locker.

I blinked.

"Are you okay?" he continued when I didn't answer.

I nodded blankly.

_What the hell was going on_?

He smiled brightly at me, showing of a set of bright white teeth that contrasted greatly with the russet tones of his smooth skin. I had the sudden urge to cup his cheek but refrained myself. I didn't want to look like a bigger freak than I already did.

"What lesson do you have next?" he questioned calmly.

"S-science," I stuttered breathlessly. Why did he always make me breathless?

"Cool! I do, too, we'll go together."

…

Oh, God, I was going to faint.

Maybe if I did faint Jared could catch me and give me mouth to mouth...

Blushing wildly, I turned back to my locker and exchanged my books over for my lessons. I hoped Erin would suddenly pop up and drag me away like she normally did to get me out of sticky situations... but then again, I really hoped she didn't. I was a little shocked to see Jared still stood beside my locker patiently waiting for me. Usually, he would be hanging out with his friends by now near the water fountains, so why was he here with me? I wasn't someone Jared Cameron hung around with during breaks.

"Ready?" Jared asked once I had unconsciously slammed my locker shut.

"Um, yes."

Grinning brightly, he opened up his arm in a 'you first' gesture so I walked forward on slightly wobbly feet. Jared came to my side a millisecond later and walked along like this was a totally normal, un-weird thing for him to do. People who were near their lockers sent us confused, envious and outraged looks as we passed by them. We passed the water fountain on the way to the science block and I flushed when all of Jared's friends looked at us like we were Batman and the Joker making out against the lockers. I glanced over at Jared to see if he had abandoned me yet but when I looked I caught his eyes, getting lost in the deep brown depths. It took everything I had to look away.

"So how are you today, Kim?" he asked as we turned the corner.

"Eh, good," I mumbled. "You?"

"Brilliant."

My lips involuntarily twitched upwards at his happy tone. I knew from other people's gossip and from being around him all these years that Jared was a pretty content guy. He was always joking and laughing. As much as I had seen it, I had never been on the receiving end of it. His energy seemed to radiate off of him and into me.

He held the door open for me as we walked into the science classroom and I shyly smiled at him, he beamed back. I turned back around just to have another look at him before the lessons started but was suddenly bombarded with a flash of raven hair. Erin basically jumped into my arms, squeezed and then let go.

"Guess who asked for my number!" she screamed, bouncing up and down.

"What?"

"Oscar Walker just asked me for my number," he giggled ecstatically. She hopped to the side just enough for me to catch sight of Jared. He was looking at me with a goofy grin on his face and I couldn't help but smile back. He was just so cute. "What's put that smile on your face?" she followed my gaze. "Ooooohh, I should have guessed. Jared's the only person that can get your knees wobbling."

"Shhhh!" I hissed as we took our seats. "He might hear you."

"Yeah, with the supersonic hearing he has," she scoffed laughingly. "He's on the other side of the room, Kimmy. Calm down."

I shuffled in my seat and peeked over to where Jared sat next to the windows. He was grinning as he made small talk with the guy in front of him, his face glowing with mirth. For some reason I kind of wished he had heard us because I knew that I would never be able to tell him myself. Sighing heavily, I turned to the front just as the teacher came into the classroom.

Jared probably thought I was a moron by the way I been acting around him. This was probably just some new craze that he was going to get bored of in a few days, drop me and then make jokes to his friend about me. Even worse, what if it was a joke? Maybe his friends had bet him to befriend and date me before kicking me to the curb as soon as I started to fall in love with him.

No, Jared wasn't that evil... was he?

My eyes automatically flickered over to examine Jared. He wasn't joking around like his friends like usual, instead concentrating on the teacher and what he was writing on the board. He was paying more attention to the lesson than I was. My eyes got caught up in his perfect profile, only stopping when Erin pinched my leg to get my attention. I worked silently through the lessons and dragged Erin to our next lesson. I didn't want to speak to Jared again, it would only confuse me more. I was fine just admiring him for afar, it worked well for the both of us so I wasn't going to ruin that. Why was _he _trying to ruin that?

I all but ran to my car, not giving even Erin enough time to say goodbye. After dinner, I tried to finish off some homework but I couldn't think straight.

_Is Jared being genuine? Is he playing me? Am I thinking too much about this? Why has he picked now to talk to me? _

I fell asleep thinking about Jared frigging Cameron and his mysterious ways. In the distance I heard a wolf howl, but I was too far gone to comprehend it.

* * *

**Thoughts?**

**Sorry about the late update but my parents surprised me with a holiday for finishing my exams and I didn't have access to internet. Thank you for being patient!**

**Thanks for the reviews, favourites and alerts!**

**-Laylax**


	5. Everything

**Don't own anything except OC's.**

* * *

**Chapter 5: Everything**

**Kim's POV.**

The weekend passed without much happening. My parents stayed in Seattle, leaving me and my siblings to our own devises, as per usual. Monday came faster than I would have liked and I nervously pulled into the school parking lot. Anna-Marie and Mike clambered out the car to rush to their friends and I slowly made my way to my locker. Erin wasn't there yet, she was always late on a Monday morning, so it was silent as I switched over some books.

"You avoided me."

The voice made me jump about ten feet in the air and a book bang to the ground. I peeked behind the locker door and saw the last (first) person I wanted to see. "What?" I whispered.

"On Friday, you avoided me," Jared said hurtfully.

Gulping, I closed my locker door and focused on not letting my heart burst out of my chest. "No, I didn't," I lied quietly.

He sighed as he bent down to pick up my book from the floor. During his action, he had stepped forward slightly so when he straightened back up he was basically touching me. His hot breath washed against the side of my face and I almost became a big puddle on the floor. Shakily, I took the book from his hand and placed it in my arm.

"Thanks," I mumbled, not meeting his eyes. When his breath fanned my face again I stepped back.

Jared grunted slightly and ran a hand through his hair. "So, considering you avoided me on Friday," I blushed despite myself. "Will you let me hang out with you today?"

"Why?"

"Why what?"

"Why do you want to hang out with me all of a sudden," I replied softly, finally looking up. Bad idea, the pools of brown in his eyes made my knees go slightly weak. "You've never paid attention to me before, Jared."

His face scrunched up in pain and flinched. I felt the need to comfort him, but refrained myself. Not only did I desperately want to know the answer, it would look slightly weird if I started to console him when we had spoken a handful of times. "I'm sorry," he breathed sorrowfully. "I—you—I finally stopped being an idiot and opened my eyes to you."

"What does that mean?"

"Everything."

Needless to say, I was confused. What the hell was he talking about? Maybe he really had been hit over the head with a hammer or abducted by aliens. He was certainly acting like he had. I wanted to question more until I had the answers I needed, however, the bell rang signalling the beginning of class. Chuckling at my astounded face, Jared _took hold of my hand_ and pulled me to the lesson. Every pair of eyes comically swirled to our intertwined hands faster than I could have clicked my fingers. Jared paid no mind to their whispers and giggles but it made me flush bright red. Jared was used to being centre of gossip, I wasn't. Rumours were frequently spread around about Jared and his friends and their antics. I was considered as that nice girl Kim that listens to your problems and doesn't complain. I wasn't the centre of the rumours and gossip, I was on the receiving end.

I liked it that way.

I didn't like attention, never had. It always made me break out into a sweat and my insides burn. Even good attention made me feel sick. This kind of gossip, bitchy stuff was a thousand times worse.

I thought he was just trying to make a point that he wasn't going to tease me or play a prank on me. I was almost sure he was going to run to his friends at lunch and mess around with them. I was wrong. In fact, I had never been more wrong in my life. Jared followed me to the next lesson, during break, and the lesson after that. At lunch he sat at a table with Erin and I, the latter sending me surprised and meaningful looks every three seconds. He only left my side when we had to go to different lessons.

It stayed like that for three weeks. It almost became normal to hold hands as we walked to class or for him to be waiting at my locker on a morning. Every night I felt like laughing at myself. Who would have thought Jared Cameron would want to be friends with _me_? Jared sat with us at lunch and, thankfully, he even hit it off with Erin. They had the same carefree, light attitude and bonded over their share of musical tastes.

I was extremely glad that he was sitting with us, but I had caught him staring wistfully at his former friends' table in the lunch room. One day, when Erin had gone to flirt with some guy a few tables down, I asked him about why he didn't speak to his friends anymore. His face fell and he said something about a 'change of events' that stopped him from hanging out with them on the weekends and going out with them on a night. Finally, his friends got sick of it and they got into a fight about it and hadn't spoken since. After that I looked at his friends closer and realized that they sent hurtful and betrayed looks every now and then to our table while Jared was sitting with us. They were probably hurt that he was hanging out with me instead of them, but as much as I felt sorry for them, I couldn't bring myself to care. Knowing Jared wanted to hang around with me more than he did his friends and that he was making time for me made something spark in my stomach. Was I becoming important to him?

I pulled into the parking lot on a cloudy morning and jogged into the school, anxious to see Jared. I hadn't seen him for two days and a part of me missed him. His laugh, his smile, his cheesy jokes. He was stood leaning against my locker when I walked inside and my lips stretched into a wide smile. Then I noticed that someone was stood beside him looking quite moody.

"Hey Kim," he greeted me brightly.

Smiling warily, I said, "Hey Jared."

My eyes glanced uneasily at the guy beside him and Jared's smile faltered slightly. "Oh, Kim this is Paul."

Paul nodded glumly at me. As he fully turned his face I realized just who he was. He was in a few of my classes and always sat at the back flicking paper airplanes into girls' hair and making rude comments to the teacher. He was the resident bad boy at La Push high. I couldn't count how many times girls had come crying to me about Paul Lahote breaking their heart or guys snapping on about how he did drugs and drank too much alcohol. I hadn't really spoken to him before and, as far as I knew, neither had Jared, so what the hell was he doing now?

Jared saw my confused look but made no comment. Bemused, I shuffled through my locker and didn't protest as Jared took my hand and pulled me to class. Paul walked a little in front of us glaring at anyone who dared to look at him. Like Jared, he had disappeared for weeks and come back impossibly ripped and rugged with all of his hair chopped off. If I didn't know better I would have said he and Jared were brothers. Girls practically swooned as Paul walked into the classroom and took a seat at the back and most guys scoffed and huffed, apart from Paul's friends who looked at him like he had just landed from Mars.

Erin, who had swapped seats with Jared a week ago after he begged for four days straight, sent me a baffled look. Shrugging, I took my usual seat and scribbled down in my book. I waited patiently until lunch when Paul was at a different lesson and didn't walk with us.

"Why are you suddenly hanging out with Paul?" I asked as Jared took a seat beside me.

"He's been going through… stuff. I've been helping him out for a couple of weeks and we've become friends."

"What kind of stuff?"

Jared smirked. "Not drugs, Kim. He fell out with his friends, too, and I found him pretty torn up about it," seeing my apprehensive expression, he grinned and took a hold of my hand. "He's not that bad. He's actually really cool, he can just get angry at times, but who doesn't? Give him a chance and I think you'll like him."

Though still hesitant, I agreed, mostly because I didn't want Jared to stop hanging out with me to hang out with Paul. Erin came over soon after so I stopped talking about Paul and listened to her story about her sister getting caught _doing it_ with her boyfriend by her parents. Paul silently joined, sitting at the end of the table and munching his food. He didn't do or say much, occasionally he let out a small snort or added a snippy comment, and when the bell rang he headed immediately for his class. Erin hissed in my ear about him on the way to class and I waved off her concern. I hadn't decided about Paul yet and I didn't want to be mean about him without really knowing him.

Another week passed and it stayed the same. Paul was an okay guy, moody and irrational at times, but all round okay. He and Jared seemed to have an unexplainable bond between them that freaked me out a little. They were always sharing secretive looks and I had caught them more than a few times whispering frantically to each other. I didn't pry, figuring it was something private do to with Paul and his falling out with his friends. However, as the days went on I became more and more curious to know exactly what they were thinking.

Friday came and Jared and I were sat in English doing work. Once we had finished the teacher let us have "free time" so we sat and talked for a while. During the conversation, Jared picked up my hand and began to fiddle around with my fingers. The feeling of his rough hands so gently weaving their way through mine made goosebumps erupt all over my body.

"What are you doing tomorrow?" he questioned, three of his fingers grazing down to my wrist and back up.

"Nothing. Homework, probably, you?"

He grinned slightly. "Do you think you could take an hour away from you homework and go out with me?"

I froze and felt my heart pound like a frightened kangaroo in my chest. "Like—like on a d-date?"

"Yep."

_Oh my God!_

I felt my blood rush to my brain and swirl around dangerously. Was this a dream? Jared Cameron asking me out had been my dream since I was ten-years-old, could it really be happening now?

"Kim?" Jared asked worriedly after a minute of silence. I wasn't even breathing. "Are you alright?"

"Yes."

His face lit up like a child at Christmas. "Yes to the date?"

Unable to speak, I nodded. He smiled so wide I was afraid his cheeks would crack. A smile itched its way onto my lips as well. The bell rang seconds later and as usual we walked to the parking lot together. I smiled shyly at him as we stopped near my car.

"I'll pick you up at five?" he said happily.

"Sure. Wait, do you know where I live?"

"Yeah. I've seen you walking into it before," he smiled. Shocking me, he leaned down and kissed my cheek. "See you tomorrow, Kim."

Yeah, I pretty much fainted.

In a daze, I got into the car and waited for my siblings. When I got home I collapsed onto my bed with a dreamy sigh. Abruptly, I sat up straight on the bed and gasped.

Shit, what was I going to wear?

* * *

**Thoughts?**

**Thanks for the reviews, favourites and alerts! Hope you like this chapter and feel free to ask questions if you have any!**

**-Layla**


	6. First date

**Don't own anything except OC's.**

* * *

**Chapter 6: First date**

**Middle of February 2006**

I rummaged through my wardrobe all night and fell asleep in expiration, figuring I would be able pick an outfit in the morning with fresh eyes. When I awoke I rushed down to grab a bowl of cereal and greet my siblings before running back up the stairs. I tried on ten different outfits, disliked them and threw them around the room along with shoes and purses. As I slipped on a denim dress thing someone walked into my bedroom.

"Kimmy, what the hell has happened? Did a tornado hit or something?" Anna-Marie gasped, taking in the destruction of my bedroom.

"Yeah, tornado Kimberly," I muttered bitterly as I eyed myself in the mirror. The denim dress looked awful and made me look three sizes bigger than I actually was. "I'm looking for something to wear for tonight."

"Where are you going?"

Should I tell her? Anna-Marie wouldn't spread it around town if I told her. Although, in such a small town news travelled fast so no doubt everyone was going to know by Monday. I didn't know whether to think that was a good or a bad thing.

"I'm going on a date."

"_No way_! With who?" she squealed excitedly.

"Jared."

"Who? I didn't hear you?"

"Jared," I said without mumbling.

She screamed while jumping up and down and clapping her hands together. "That's brilliant, Kimmy!" she skipped over to hug me and then looked down at my outfit. "Not that, it's gross. Oh, I'll help you choose!"

"What's all the screaming about?" Mike yawned, scratching at the back of his head as he came into my bedroom.

"Kim's got a date!"

His nose scrunched. "Ew, gross." He swiftly exited, slamming the door behind him.

"When did Jared ask you out?" Anna-Marie asked, picking up a purple dress, examining it and then throwing it onto my bed.

"Yesterday in class," I answered quietly.

"That's awesome, Kimmy. You've liked him for ages!"

"I know."

"We're you going?"

"I don't know, he said he was just picking me up at five."

We made chitchat as she dug her way through my wardrobe. After five minutes of searching she threw a pair of skinny jeans at my face and demanded I put them on. By the end of her hunt she had thrown more articles of clothing at me to make an outfit, dark blue skinny jeans, a cowl neck cream jumper, tan boots and a cream pea coat. It was cute and I found myself relaxing a little knowing I at least looked presentable.

"Will you and Mike be okay until mom and dad get home?" I asked worriedly as my sister and I sat on the sofa to wait for Jared.

"It's two hours, Kim, we'll be fine," Anna-Marie replied, rolling her eyes. "You worry too much. Go and have fun for once."

My nerves started to kick in tenfold at quarter to five. I was actually about to go on a date with Jared Cameron, my dream guy since the age of ten. It was too good to be true, especially for me. Nothing good or lucky ever happened to someone like me. By the time Jared pulled up and beeped I was shaking. From excitement or nerves, I couldn't decide, maybe it was both. Stomach and mind swirling, I waved to Anna-Marie and walked outside, willing myself not to fall over or embarrass myself before the date had even started properly. He grinned widely at me when I slammed the car door shut and I almost lost my breath.

"Hey, Kim," he greeted calmly. God, why couldn't I be that cool? "You look beautiful."

My face bloomed red and I had to will everything inside me to burst just to whisper, "Thanks."

He smiled and I couldn't help but smile back. "So I was thinking we could go to a burger joint near Port Angeles. They do these killer sundaes that are about the size of my head."

I giggled. "Sounds good."

"I love your laugh," he whispered so softly I wasn't sure if I was meant to hear. Still, it made me blush.

We were silent as he sped out of La push and down the long road leading to Forks. His truck, that was bashed and rusty on the outside, was also the same on the inside. The radio looked worn out and old, the seats were scraped and tearing slightly, the dash was full of dust and in the back on the floor were so many cans of beer and pop it would have been impossible to count them all. If I looked under the seat I was probably sure to find some porn magazines or something, wasn't I? It was a guy's car, there was no doubt about it.

"So, what have you been doing before I picked you up?" Jared asked, smiling.

_Worrying about this date._

"Nothing much," I lied. "Just watching telly and stuff. You?"

"Stopped Paul from beating up a tree," he chuckled lightly at my surprised face. "He has temper issues."

"Really? I never noticed."

He laughed, a booming, carefree laugh that made my insides tingle. "Yeah, he's pretty intimidating sometimes."

"Only a little."

"He's a good guy, though," he shrugged. "He just needs to work around some things. Enough about Paul anyway, what's your favourite colour?"

"What?" I laughed, "You're seriously asking what my favourite colour is? That's so cliché."

His eyes danced with mirth as he sent me a happy glance. "I want to know everything about you. I guess that's a pretty good start."

"It's dark brown."

_The same colour as your eyes._

"Unusual, I like it," he winked, I blushed.

"What about you?"

"I suppose I like green, like the trees," he nodded to the forest surrounding us. "How's that one for a cliché?"

We started a conversation about all the different animals that could be in the forest after that. Thanks to Jared's relaxed attitude I was a lot calmer than I thought I would be. I thought I would have fainted at least twice at this point, but all I was doing was laughing along with Jared as he described seeing a fish doing summersaults in the river once. We pulled up outside a small diner and before I could even blink Jared was at my door opening it for me. I blanched slightly, I thought guys only did that in movies.

Inside the diner was a typical American style diner. Red leather seats, white plastic tables, black and white checked flooring and people waiting tables in 50's style clothing. Jared led us to a small table in the corner which we silently plopped into. The way I was sat meant the only thing I could see was Jared, which, by the way, I was totally fine with.

"Hey, I'm Cindy," a bored looking woman with brown hair said, chewing loudly on her gum. "What drinks do you want?"

"A coke," I responded immediately.

Jared smiled, "Same."

The woman sighed and walked off as Jared zoned his eyes on me. Despite all my instincts screaming at me to look away, I couldn't. I found myself hypnotized by him. "Twenty questions, I'll start. What's you favourite animal?"

I chuckled softly at him and said, "A dog, I think. Yours?"

"A wolf," he smiled like he had just told a funny joke. "What's your favourite food?"

"Ummm, chocolate brownies, you?"

"Anything that's edible."

I couldn't stop smiling as he continued to ask me some cliché questions. I had dreamt of this moment for years and I felt like pinching myself as his knee grazed against mine. I, Kimberly Connweller the nothing special girl, was on a date with Jared Cameron, gorgeous hunk that practically every girl at La Push High wanted to go out with. That made me feel anxious. Why was _I_on this date and not some popular, pretty girl? There were plenty of girls in Forks and La Push that would have said yes to a date with Jared, so why had he asked me out?

Cindy the waitress came over and ordered our food and then tottered off to some guy at the counter covered in tattoos and munching on a hamburger the size of a plate.

"I have a question," I said shakily.

"Okay, what?"

I took a deep breath, gathering the little confidence I had to ask the question. Did I even want to know the answer? Maybe I should just stop—no. No, I needed to know. "Why did you ask me out?"

Jared looked confused. "Because I like you."

"But _why_?" his face scrunched up even more. Maybe this was a bad idea, but I couldn't back out now. "Why now? Why me? You could have asked anyone out and you chose me, why?"

"Because you're _Kim_."

I softened at his words and nervously fiddled with the straw in my coke. "I'm not cool," I blurted without time to think. Afterwards my whole body burst into a sweat of embarrassment and I ducked my head behind my hair.

"I don't care," he replied simply. "I find it refreshing that you're not obsessed with gossip and don't care about when the next party is. You're kind and caring and loving and smart and real. Plus, you're beautiful, which is an added bonus."

"But what about everybody at school—"

"Fuck them," he scoffed and I blinked. "If they have a problem then its there's to deal with. I like you Kim and I want to give this a chance, do you?" he asked almost worriedly.

Blushing wildly, I nodded.

"Good, because I think this could work," he reached over and placed his boiling hand on top of mine. I didn't have the confidence to grab hold, but I didn't pull away either. "And I'm sorry I didn't do anything before this," he admitted in a quieter, softer tone. Almost like he was embarrassed. "I should have taken more notice. I was stupid and immature, but a lot has happened since then. I've finally realized that the world doesn't revolve around parties and being popular, there's a lot more to life than that."

I stared at our hands for a moment and then slowly looked back to his eyes. He was gazing at me with a fiery look that made me want to vomit. It was so intense, so utterly mind blowing that I couldn't hold it for very long. Uncomfortable, I shuffled in my seat and anxiously licked my lips.

"Here's your food."

Cindy put our plates down, effectively ending out "hand holding". I felt the need to slap her.

I ate four fries with ketchup and then looked up to Jared. "Do you have any siblings?"

Of course I knew the answer, but I wanted to end the tense atmosphere that had entered our booth. Everything had been going so smoothly before I brought up my worries. Trust me to ruin the easy feeling of the night.

"Yeah, I have a little sister, Katrina," he smiled wistfully. "She's ten. You have a younger sister as well, right?"

I nodded. "Anna-Marie. I have a younger brother, too, Mike."

"What do you parents do?" he asked casually, munching away on his monstrous burger. He had ordered the extra-large meal.

"They're solicitors," I whispered. I hated talking about my parents, they had always been a sore spot for me.

"Oh, that's cool."

"Not really."

His eyebrows knitted together. "Why—"

"What about your parents? What do they do?"

I wasn't going to tell him about my parents yet, if at all. Jared, as far as I knew, had the perfect family life. His parents had been married for twenty years and were still very much in love. He and his sister we exceptionally close, something I had witnessed many times when he went to wait for her outside the middle school section of the our learning building. They weren't rich or unusual, they were just a typical loving family. What would Jared think when he found out that I saw my parents for less than an hour every day? Sometimes I could go weeks without talking to them and they never battered an eyelid. Since the age of ten when my grandparents died I had been left to look after my siblings while they stayed in Seattle for "business". They had never cared for us, we were the result of pressure from my grandparents (in my case) and broken condoms (in Anna-Marie and Mike's case). He would probably run for the hills after learning how messed up our family life really was.

"My mom works in a bakery in Port Angeles and my dad is a police officer," he said proudly.

I smiled at his bright face. "They sound cool."

"They're amazing," he beamed, taking another bite of his burger. "And Kat's turning into a really good soccer player. My dad's so proud. She won a medal and everything the other month for scoring four times in one game."

I happily listened to him babble away about his family, occasionally laughing at their antics and the sweet stories Jared told me. The more he went on only confirmed the fact that I couldn't tell him about my parents. He was probably imagining our families getting together and having game nights and hearty meals around the dinner table while talking about stupid sitcoms on the telly. That our mom's would gossip about the latest La Push scandal while hugging and kissing each other, and our dads could bond over football games and beer. What if he knew that my mom hated to be touched so much that I couldn't actually remember the last time she hugged me? Or the fact that my dad hated football with a passion because he could never play it properly and that he hated the taste of beer? What if he found out that all they could talk about were work and money and how disappointed they are in me and my siblings?

He would probably shit his pants and run home to never look back or speak to me again.

I was in too deep. I was too happy to let him go yet.

Once we had finished Jared ordered our desert and turned to me. "You're going to love it," he said and just because he sounded so happy I felt myself tingle. "They're delicious."

He was right, it was delicious. It was about the size of my head and had about five different flavoured ice-creams in the big glass, topped with nuts and a wafer. I was ready to burst after five bites and it had only made a small dent into the massive foundation, Jared finished the rest with graceful ease, making me wonder where the hell he put it all.

Afterwards, he put some money down and the table and motioned for me to follow him. Raising my eyebrows, I obeyed, trailing beside him as we walked back to his truck. Once again he held the door open for me and I stopped myself from swooning.

"I thought we could stop at the beach," he explained as he pulled out the parking lot. "It's not raining, for once, and I love the beach."

"Sounds perfect."

Walking hand-in-hand down the beach with Jared had been in my dreams more than once. Normally, the dream ended with us doing some naughty stuff near the rocks… oh, God, now I was blushing. Jared had his eyes on the road so he didn't notice my mortification. If only he knew I had dreamt about us having sex on the beach.

My heart doubled in speed at the images and the endless possibilities. God, I really needed to get a grip.

He was the one doing most of the talking on the way back, I was too embarrassed to say anything though I hadn't really did anything embarrassing… I had just thought it. Every time he looked at me, I blushed. He probably thought I had something wrong with me. Soon my face was going to be permanently stuck bright red, I'm telling you.

He pulled up in the first beach parking lot and helped me out of the car as my legs started to feel like jelly. I smiled shyly at him as we began walking down the sand. Jared reached out and gently took my hand and I had to stop myself from gasping and hyperventilating. He was really warm, like a radiator on full blast, and it made me shiver at the contrast between him and the bitter wind. Seeing this, Jared pulled me closed and my breath caught in my throat.

It would be really embarrassing if I fainted on him, so I tried to calm myself by staring determinedly ahead at the trees.

"Do you have any hobbies?" he asked, his deep voice cutting through the silence.

"Not really," I admitted. "I have too much homework to have hobbies."

"Yeah, too true."

My stomach did flip-flops at the closeness of his voice and I found myself instinctively turning towards him. He stopped walking to stare into my eyes and my feet stopped moving on their own accord. No one had ever stared at me like that before. From anyone it would have been flattering and warming, but from Jared it was knee-wobbling and heart soaring. I had dreamt of him staring at me like that a million times and now it was happening it was too good to be true.

My heart came to a screeching stop and then started up again at triple the normal speed when he cupped my face with his hands. My skin burned pleasantly under his tender touch and I leaned into him.

"Kim." He murmured, his lips hardly moving.

My lips twitched into a small smile and his whole face glowed with bliss. This was it. This was the moment everything I had ever wanted since the age of ten came true. Jared Cameron was going to kiss me. Butterflies erupted into my stomach and my heart beat so fast it resembled a humming birds wings. Then his face come a centimetre closer… then another… then another… and finally—

"OWWWWWWWW!"

The wolf's howl shocked me so much I jumped back in fright, only for Jared's hand to slip from my face and leaving me feeling a little bit emptier. Jared looked a mix between happy, angry and apologetic. The wolf howled again, this time even louder than the first. Jared cursed under his breath though I caught it and peeked at me with sorrow ridden eyes.

"I'm sorry, Kim, I have to go."

"What?"

"I need to do something," he growled, taking my hand and pulling me down the beach. I unconsciously let him, my body still shocked from the mixture of Jared's almost kiss and the howl of the wolf. He held the door as I climbed into the car and rushed to his seat, slamming his foot down on the peddle as soon as the door was shut. I was too astonished to say or do anything than just sit and stare ahead.

"I'm sorry, Kim," he said as he pulled outside my house. "I'll see you on Monday, okay?"

I nodded blankly and got out the car. Jared raced off before I had the door fully shut. It wasn't until I got into the house that I started to the react.

What the hell had just happened?

Had Jared nearly kissed me? Had he _wanted _to kiss me? Why did he go off so suddenly after the wolf's howl? What was so important? How did he know he was needed?

_I had been on a date with JARED CAMERON!_

Was it a good date? Was I too awkward and geeky? Did he like me at all? Was I just a game or an experiment? Had he meant what he had said in the diner?

I grabbed hold of the sofa to steady myself as my legs became weak from over-thinking. My brain was starting to sizzle at the edges, but I couldn't stop myself from thinking about him. The date had been so good, weird, over-whelming, light, serious and amazing that I couldn't figure out what to think of the whole thing. All I knew was that his reaction to the howling was one of the strangest thing's I had ever seen. The question was, why had he acted like that?

I needed sleep.

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**Thoughts?**

**Thanks for the reviews, favourites and alerts! It's a bit late because I went away for a week. Hope you all enjoy this chapter and don't be afraid to ask questions!**

**-Laylax**


	7. Secrets

**Don't own anything except OC's.**

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**Chapter 7: Secrets**

**Kim's POV.**

Jared was hiding something.

I was an idiot for not realizing sooner. Since the moment he came back to school looking like a body builder he had been acting strange. First of all, he was hanging out with _me_. He had gone from hardly knowing my name (I don't think he even knew it began with a K) to following me around like a happy, very cute puppy. Then he stopped talking to all of his friends, then he started to hang around with Paul and Sam (according to the rumours), then he asked me on a date, and now he was acting like a freaked out cat towards a wolf howl.

I had been so ecstatic about Jared actually being interested in me I hadn't taken notice to his behaviour. But the more I thought about it, the more weird and unexplainable things I noticed about him. Like the way he always nervously glanced at the woods like he was waiting for something, or how he acted like an overprotective momma bear at a loud noise, or the way he watched Jacob Black and his friends like they were about to explode.

I hadn't picked up on any of the things before. I had been too busy watching the way his deep brown eyes sparkled when he was happy and how he held my hand like he just couldn't stop himself from touching me. Every moment we had spent together started to play through my mind as I laid in my bed after our date. Hours passed by and I couldn't will myself to sleep, so of course I started to pick out every little thing Jared had done that was even remotely strange.

I didn't want to believe it was true. I wanted to believe that he was perfect and that he wouldn't lie to me. Why, I didn't know. We hadn't been "friends" for very long and everyone had the right to keep secrets (hell, I was keeping a secret from him). However, I felt like this was something big, something that involved me in a massive way. I hated being out of the loop, especially when it concerned the possibility of Jared and I.

I had the intention of confronting him when I got to school, I was going to demand answers, only he wasn't there. In fact, he wasn't there for the rest of the week. My anger departed after a few days and turned into worry. Was he sick? Was he avoiding me? Had I done something wrong? The weekend dragged by slower than I thought time could ever go and then it was Monday again. I rushed into school with my eyes wide open for any sign of Jared.

"You're getting ridiculous," Erin said as she joined me. She threw some books into her locker and turned to me, her hand on her hip. "I know you've been obsessed with him for years now but you're acting like it's the apocalypse."

"I'm just worried," I muttered in slight embarrassment. If Erin had noticed, the girl who was so oblivious to everything around her that it borderline rude, other people must have realized my strange behaviour. I was practically twitching.

"About what?" she slammed her locker shut. "Marisa Harnet swears she saw him on Friday with Paul near the woods. I'm sure he's fine."

"What? Marisa seen him? Why didn't you tell me?" I hissed.

"I just heard her gossiping to her friends near the back," Erin smirked, apparently finding my hysteria amusing. "Chill out, Kimmy."

_Chill out?_ What was I, a penguin?

However, I surrendered and sluggishly made my way to class, cursing when I remembered that Jared wasn't going to be in any of them… again. As much as I tried to tell myself Jared was fine I couldn't stop that nagging worry in the back of my head. I acted normal to keep the little sanity I had left, but my heart still searched for Jared when I thought no one was looking or when I was by myself. By Wednesday I was a few days away from marching over to the Cameron's house and demanding to see Jared before I exploded, but I didn't have to.

The minute I got to school I grabbed some books for my bag and was just about to shut it when I felt a presence behind me.

"Kim."

I knew that voice anywhere. Hell, I could have been in space and I would still be drawn to that voice. Immediately, I turned and basked in the glory of Jared unharmed and smiling at me. Whether it was the fact that I had been worried for over a week or that he was just so beautiful, I forgot everything and jumped into his arms. They instantly wrapped around me and I savoured the heat radiating from his muscular body on such a cold day.

"Are you okay?" I asked, still holding tight.

"Of course I am," he replied. "I missed you, though."

My inside turned into mushy goo.

"Me too," I murmured into his shoulder shyly. I let go of him and awkwardly hoisted my bag further up my shoulder blade. He was grinning so wide I thought he may faint. "Where have you been?"

"Oh, I had a… family problem, I suppose you could say," he answered after a small pause. "I needed to sort that out before I was allowed to come back to school again."

"Oh, I'm sorry."

"Don't be. It was nothing bad."

"Well, that's good."

He nodded, his eyes never straying from me. Intimidated by his dark brown eyes, I looked away and watched as a group gathered by the lockers sent us curious glances. No one had mentioned mine and Jared's date so I supposed no one knew about us yet. I had only told Erin and my siblings and, as far as I knew, they had said nothing. It must have been weird to see me jumping in his arms like a pathetic stalker. I blushed and looked to the floor at the thought.

"I had fun on our date," Jared said and my blush deepened. "I'm sorry I had to leave early… I had something important to do that I'd forgot about."

"Its fine," I shrugged.

"No it's not," he replied strongly. He took a step forward and took my hand in his, I smiled nervously. "I'll make it up to you next time, promise."

My heart skipped at his words. _He wanted to go out with me again_! I felt like singing and dancing down the corridors.

We walked hand-in-hand to lessons and I didn't even care when people whispered and giggled. We ate lunch together, along with Paul and Erin who fought about which band was better (Aerosmith or The Rolling Stones), and chatted about nothing in particular. It was the end of the day when he was walking me to my car when he stopped us.

"What about this Friday for our do over date?" he questioned.

My heart fluttered. "Okay," I nodded shyly.

He kissed my cheek and ran off to his truck while I sat in my car waiting for Mike and Anna-Marie. When I knew no one could hear me, I squealed and did a little happy dance that was really hard considering I was sat down. My blissfulness carried on all night, Thursday and Friday. I had finished my homework on the Friday afternoon after school and was making the tea for my brother and sister when the front door opened. My parents rushed into the kitchen, both in their suits and their phones clutched in their hands.

"Kimberly," mom called out in relief. "Thank God you're home. We need you to look after Anna-Marie and Mike tonight, alright? We have a really important client in Seattle that wants to see us tonight."

"Mom!" I cried as she began to retreat up the stairs. "I can't! I have plans."

She scoffed. "So? Cancel them."

"Mom—"

"There is no say on the matter, Kimberly. You're looking after them and that's final."

I couldn't argue anymore as she disappeared up the stairs and into her bedroom. My heart sank to my feet and I stood staring at my parents closed bedroom door in shock and anger. Why did they expect me to drop everything when they wanted to go away? I was sixteen, for God sake, I was meant to be out with my friends on a Friday night, not looking after my siblings because my parents were over obsessed with money! With a heavy heart, I got my cell phone from my bag and dialled Jared's number.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Jared, it's Kim," I muttered into the phone. "I'm really sorry but I can't come tonight."

"What?"

He sounded so disappointed I wanted to cry.

"My parents are going away for the weekend," I explained. "I have to look after Anna and Mike while they're gone. I'm sorry."

He sighed. "No, it's alright. I just wanted to spend time with you."

"Me too, Jared, but my parents don't like us to be in separate places when they're away."

"Another time then?"

"Definitely."

"Okay. Bye, Kim."

"Bye."

Sometimes, I really wanted to punch my parents in the face.

Ten minutes after arriving my parents ran down the stairs, my mom's heels clicking against the floor, and out the front door. _Thanks for saying goodbye_, I thought bitterly when I heard them roar off down the road. Sighing, I finished the tea and then got changed into my pyjamas and cuddled on the sofa with Anna-Marie. She sympathetically patted my shoulder and Mike shrugged his shoulders in a 'what can you do?' way from the beanbag near the fire.

Suddenly, there was a bang at the door and I got up to answer it, expecting a neighbour or a salesman. With the mood I was in I got ready to scream at the person and put my best pissed off face on. However, when I opened the door, it was the last person I expected.

* * *

**Thoughts?**

**Thank you for the reviews, alerts and favourites! I love you all and I hope you enjoyed this chapter!**

**I know the ending isn't the best (it's so ****_obvious_****) but I had the next chapter with this one but it would have been nearly 4,000 words and considering the length of the other chapters, it would have seemed out of place, so I hope you like my obvious cliff-hanger!**

**-Laylax**


	8. Fight

**Don't own anything except OC's.**

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**Chapter 8: Fight**

**Kim's POV.**

"Hey, Kim."

Jared stood at my door with a plastic bag in his hand dressed in cream cut-offs and a black t-shirt. My mouth fell open and I stared at him like an idiot for at least three minutes.

"Are you okay, Kim?" he asked worriedly.

"Yeah," I croaked through a dry throat. I sounded like I'd been smoking for fifty years. Flushing from how utterly un-cool I was, I stood aside to let him in. Even though he had been stood in the freezing cold he was still unbelievably hot… in both senses of the word. "What are you doing here?"

"Well, I thought since you can't come on a date, I'd come to you," he smiled goofily and I giggled. "You're parent's didn't say anything about someone not coming here, did they?"

"No, I suppose they didn't," I grinned at him, then I remembered I was in my polka dot bear pyjama's and almost screamed. "What's in the bag?" I distracted him shamelessly.

"My mom asked me where I was going and, well, I can't lie to my mom," he admitted, the apple of his cheeks reddening slightly. I smiled at his cuteness and at the fact that it wasn't me who was blushing for once. "So she gave me a cake to give you from the bakery."

"Oh, that's really sweet," I said truthfully.

Jared smiled and handed the plastic bag to me. Biting my lip, I motioned for him to follow me into the kitchen. The cake was in a plastic container when I picked it from the bag and set it on the counter. I lifted the lid and drooled. It was an ultimate chocolate cake, round, three layers and smothered in thick, smooth chocolate for icing. On top were edible chocolate twigs that I had always loved to pick off cakes since I was a child.

"Oh, wow," I chuckled in surprise. I had expected a simple sponge cake or something. "Tell your mom thanks when you get home."

"I will."

"Mike, Anna, do you want some cake?" I shouted into the living room. They stood up straight away and ran into the kitchen.

"Jared, what are you doing here?" Anna-Marie asked, glancing at me in confusion.

"I came to hang out with Kim," Jared didn't miss a beat.

Anna-Marie giggled, "Awwwww!"

"Gross," Mike scoffed. "Where's the cake?"

"Here," I got a knife and cut a slice. "You can't have too much or you'll be sick."

"Can I have whipped cream?"

"If there's some in the fridge."

Mike happily took the whipped cream into the living room closely followed by Anna-Marie, who winked at me as she turned around the corner. I turned back to Jared who was gazing at me with an unexplainable expression.

"You're close to them." It was a statement rather than a question.

"Well, yeah, they're my brother and sister," I answered quietly. Shakily, I picked up the lid and covered the cake with it. "We're family."

"I meant on a deeper level than siblings," he replied.

"Oh."

I moved the cake container to the other counter and put the plastic bag into cupboard. I knew what he meant, I looked after Mike like a guardian rather than a sister to a brother. I had too. The last time he ate too much junk food he had thrown up all night and I had to sit with him. My parents had a business meeting the next day and refused to help him, insisting it was his own fault and he had to learn to deal with it on his own. He was only six, I couldn't have left him with his head in the toilet on his own.

"Mmmm," Mike wondered into the room and dumped his bowl in the sink. "That was yummy."

"Jared's mom made it for us," I said.

"Thank you Jared's mom!" he laughed, licking the chocolate off his fingers. Jared chuckled and winked at him. "Kimmy, where are mom and dad?"

I froze, horribly aware that Jared was hanging on every word we said. "They've gone away to Seattle for work."

"_Again_?" he huffed, rolling his eyes. "They're always away. Why don't they just move to Seattle and leave us here by ourselves? We'd be happier, anyway."

"You don't mean that, Mike," I whispered.

"Yeah I do. All they do is make you and Anna sad. Anna cried the other day because of mom."

"She did?"

"Uh-uh. Mom called her stupid."

I swore under my breath for not noticing that Anna was upset. I hadn't even known mom had been home this week before we went to bed. I had been hauled in my room with homework most nights. Why Anna-Marie hadn't told me was a wonder. She usually liked me to hug her when she was upset and we'd watch shitty chick-flicks and eat popcorn drowned in butter.

Mike sighed and walked out the room, leaving Jared and I alone. A tense, awkward silence rang out in the room as I shuffled on my feet and avoided his eyes. I didn't want him to find out like this, in fact I hadn't wanted him to find out at all. I wanted to be perfect like him and his family. I didn't want him to think I had baggage if we were together.

"How often do your parents go away?" Jared questioned, his eyebrows scrunched together. I looked towards the wall and hugged my arms around my waist.

"I don't know. About four-five times a month, maybe more."

Another pause. "Why would you're mom call Anna stupid?"

"Because she's a bitch," I muttered under my breath.

"What?"

"Nothing, it doesn't matter," I pushed myself off the counter and stomped over to the sink. I busied myself washing Mike's bowl while Jared stood behind me in silence that seemed to deafen me. I felt sick.

"It does if they're making you sad, Kim," he said. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"Um, because it's none of your business," I spat, whipping around. He flinched and I almost fell to my knees grovelling. "You've only started talking to me in the past month and you expect me to tell you every detail of my life?"

I turned back to the dishes and scrubbed with extra vigour. I could feel Jared staring at me, his eyes like lasers in my back, but I was determined to ignore him. He was judging me, I knew he was. He was wondering if I was worth it, if my family and I were too messed up for him to get involved with. I probably wasn't.

"I could have helped you, that's all."

"How could you have helped me?" I mumbled, drying the bowl Mike had been eating from. "There's nothing to help me with. My parents are just distant."

"It sounds it bit more than distant, Kim."

"It's normal for me," I replied, my voice stronger. "I'm sorry that I don't have the perfect family like you, Jared, but there the only one I've got."

"That's not what I meant—"

"Then what do you mean? My parents are just… independent. They're really into their jobs and sometimes it comes before family stuff, if that's all they do its something I can deal with."

"So, what, they just leave you to look after Anna and Mike? Don't you see something wrong with that?"

"I—I don't know," I stumbled through a dry throat. "I don't mind as much as I used to. I mean, I'd rather look after them than not have anyone here at all."

"But they can't just leave you all—"

"Yes they can and they do," I responded forcefully. He opened his mouth to argue but I'd had enough. "Jared, I think it's time you go."

"Wait, Kim, come on—"

"No, I… need you to go. I'm sorry."

My eyes were stinging as he watched me with sad, sympathetic eyes. I hated it. I didn't want him to pity me. I had waited since I was ten for him to even notice me and now we were finally getting somewhere he was _pitying _me. I wanted him to be with me for me, not because he felt sorry for me and my siblings. Even if it hadn't worked out in the end it would have been enough that he liked me in the first place just because I was Kim and I loved him.

After what seemed like hours Jared finally pushed himself off the counter and walked out the door. I didn't look up until I heard the door slam. He was really gone. I'd sent him away. I felt like I'd been stabbed in the heart… but it was better than prolonging the inventible. We were going to break up one day, because of my family or because of the multiple stupid things I'd be likely to do, it was going to happen.

"Kim?" Anna-Marie walked into the kitchen. "Where'd Jared go?"

"He left," I sniffed. "I think—I think it's over."

"What, why?!"

"Because it was going to happen eventually," I sighed. "We weren't going to last forever."

"How do you know?"

"Because he's too perfect and I'm too… not perfect."

"Kimberly," Anna-Marie snapped, slamming her bowl onto the counter. "Why the hell would you even think that? One, Jared Cameron is _not_ perfect, I can tell you that for free. And yeah, maybe you're not perfect, no one is, but you're awesome, Kim. You deserve to be happy and Jared makes you happy."

"Our parents—"

"Are idiots," she huffed. She hadn't forgiven mom for her comment about her Math work and I'm guessing the stupid thing wouldn't have went down well either. "Don't think about them just think about you. You've been looking after Mike and I since you were ten, Kim, it's time to think about yourself. We're grown up enough now, we don't need you to hover in the background in case we fall over and scrap our knee."

"Mike—"

"Is eleven and old enough to make his own mistakes. Plus, he has me to look after him as well."

"But Jared and his family are perfect—"

"Oh, how I wish you'd stop using that silly word."

"—and if he's with me he's going to have to deal with not only me, but the whole family. I can't do that to him."

Anna-Marie smiled sneakily. "Well, he seemed pretty up for it before. He couldn't take his eyes off you when I was in here." I blushed and my heart fluttered at the thought of him looking at me like that. Anne Marie giggled, "You need to stop thinking you're not worth it, Kim, because you _so _are. And I think Jared thinks so, too. You just need to stop over-thinking _everything…_ like you always do."

She grabbed the cake from the counter, the cream from the fridge and three spoons. "Come and eat this cake with us and you can talk to Jared on Monday."

"You can't have the cake in the living room, Anna."

She span around, the cake balanced in one hand and the carton of milk in the other. "You're not my mom, Kim," she winked.

I stood in the middle of the kitchen for a few minutes and thought about what she said. She was right, I wasn't her mom, I was her sister. I wasn't the on that should be looking after her all the time. I was the person that should be sneaking her alcohol and giving her makeup (not that I was going to do that) like Erin's older sister did for her. Of course I was still going to look out for them, I loved them more than anyone else in the world… but maybe it was time to be more of a sister than a guardian.

"Give me a spoon," I demanded Mike. He grinned at me with chocolate covered teeth as he handed me what I asked for. I took a seat next to Anna-Marie and laughed at the shitty sitcoms and took a bite of the cake until it was all gone.

It was nice not to worry about them eating too much chocolate, or getting to bed on time… well, not outwardly anyway.

* * *

**Thoughts?**

**Thanks for the reviews, favourites and alerts! You're all amazing! Hope you enjoy this chapter!**

**-Laylax**


	9. Trust

**Don't own anything except OC's.**

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**Chapter 9: Trust**

**Kim's POV**

"Why do you look like you're about to piss yourself?"

Frowning, I looked over to Erin. "I don't…do I?"

"Either that or you already went through with it," she glanced at my jeans. "Nope."

"I'm just cold."

Okay, so that was a lie. Really I was nervous about seeing Jared at school. Not only had I threw him out of my house and shouted at him, I'd been lying to him since the moment we first became friends. He had probably come to the conclusion that it wasn't worth it by now and was figuring out ways to let me down gently. I was nervous that it was all going to be over before it even began.

Jared didn't come to my locker like he usually did and I went to classes feeling low. I missed the happy grin that he wore even though everyone else was scowling like they hated the world. It made my day feel less like a drag and without it to perk me up I felt sluggish. I couldn't concentrate on my work or what the teachers were saying, I was too busy looking around for Jared. He wasn't in lessons and I started to worry that his family problem had worsened again.

I was on my way to meet up with Erin for lunch when someone suddenly yanked me back by my elbow. I didn't have time to scream before I came to a halt in an empty classroom.

"Sorry about that," Jared said, his soft grip on my elbow dropping. "I didn't think."

"It's alright," I whispered. "You just shocked me."

He smiled awkwardly and ran a hand through his hair. "Listen, Kim—"

"You don't have to say it," I interrupted sadly. He looked at me with his big brown eyes and I almost started to cry knowing that I was never going to see them sparkle again. "No hard feelings. We can just go back to being… whatever we were before."

His eyebrows scrunched together. "What?"

"We can be friends or whatever. Jared, I get that you don't want to be involved with my family which means you can't be involved with me—"

"Kim, that isn't what I was going to say," he said strongly. "I was just going to say I'm sorry for being so rude. Your family is none of my business and I shouldn't have been so pushy about it."

"No… I overreacted," I whispered. "It's just a sensitive topic—"

"I know, I get that. You don't have to talk to me until you're ready."

"Thanks."

He smiled and opened the door for me to walk out. As we exited together, a group a freshman's looked over and giggled. I flushed crimson at what they must have been thinking, Jared and I walking out an empty classroom together…

I ducked my head and briskly walked to next lesson with Jared trailing behind me. The day went by normal after that, except when Jared looked me in the eye too long I had to flinch away. I could see the questions swimming in his eyes, he was dying to ask me more. That made my stomach churn. If he knew more, would he be frightened off? When I tell him, which would have to be one day, will he run?

"So when can we hang out next?" Jared asked as we walked into the car park.

My heart flipped. "When are you free?"

"Tonight."

I giggled, "Actually, you could come if you want. My parents are working late, Mike's sleeping at a friends and Anna will just be in her room."

He grinned widely and held out his hand for me to take. I stared and blinked at it for a few seconds before grabbing it. He walked me to my car and said he would follow me back to my house. Mike had gone straight to his friends and Anna had netball for an hour after school, so I had no one to wait for. Gulping, I pulled away and sped off to my house, my heart thumping. The thought of being alone with Jared did these things to me.

I ran into the house as he pulled up, making sure the house wasn't a mess. Satisfied rats weren't about to set up camp in the living room, I pulled off my jacket as he walked through the front door. I watched him glance around the house for a few seconds and then his eyes landed on me.

_Oh God_.

"Are you hungry?" I spat quickly, blushing.

"I'm always hungry."

"Okay, I'll put something in."

"Let me help you."

We dug through the freezer and cupboards and settled on cooking three pizzas, two for us and one for Mike and Anna-Marie. From school and our date, I knew Jared ate a lot, I suppose he had to for the size of him. Once they were cooking, we stood around the kitchen talking nonsense. It felt good to laugh and joke around with him again. I was always comfortable around Jared, unless I thought of what he must be thinking of me and my family. I sat and nibbled on my third piece of pizza on the couch while Jared had already finished half of a one off.

"What do you parents do, anyway?" he asked attentively, peeked at me from the corner of his eyes.

I swallowed my mouth full. "They're lawyers in Port Angeles but they have to go on a lot of business trips."

"What about grandparents and stuff, are they around?"

"My dad's grandma lives on the reservation but she's old and mostly stays at my Aunt's. My mom's parents live near San Francisco so we only see them about twice a year."

He paused, his attention straying from the pizza to me. I shuffled under his gaze. "Why did you keep it from me?" he questioned almost snappishly.

I frowned at him. "I'm not the only one keeping secrets, am I?" I grumbled, then instantly regretted it.

"What do you mean?"

"Nothing… forget I said anything."

"No, what do you mean?" he repeated, throwing the pizza back onto the plate.

My stomach was doing flip-flops as I set my pizza down. Why did I say anything? "I don't know… I realized after our date there was something…off. Well, I realized sooner, really, I just didn't want to admit it."

"But why do you think I'm keeping a secret?" he whispered, gulping.

"Well, first of all you've gone from a normal guy to a damn body builder in the space of two months, you didn't talk to me for ten years and now you hang out with me all the time, you look at the woods like they're about to catch fire, and I don't know what your obsession is with Jacob Black and his friends, but it's getting a little weird now."

His lips twitched at that and I sighed, glad I hadn't offended him. "You're a lot more observant than I thought you were," he smirked.

"So you admit to them?" I muttered, astonished. "I'm not going crazy."

"No…no you're not. You're right, but I can't tell you yet."

My breathing picked up. "Why not?"

"For the same reasons you can't tell me and more. It's a big thing…and I don't think you're ready to know yet."

"Does…does it involve me?"

He stared at me dead in the eye. "Yes."

The room began to spin.

I was right. He had a secret, a _big _secret…and it involved me in same way or another. What was it? Had there been signs? Had I missed them? Was it a good thing or a bad thing? I didn't know what to think, what to feel. I didn't like not knowing, but I couldn't force him to tell me when he hadn't forced me to tell him. I could wait…I think. The secret couldn't be too bad or he would have had to tell me sooner.

I rubbed my temples with my fingers, a headache brewing. I twisted my neck to look at Jared as he watched me with worry. He wouldn't put me in danger. I trusted him, and maybe that was stupid of me, but I couldn't help it. He was so beautiful and caring…he wouldn't keep something that could potentially hurt me… would he? I opened my mouth to tell him I was okay to wait when there was a sudden howl from the forest and Jared's phone rang.

He blinked rapidly as he seemed to come back into reality. "Hello?" he mumbled into the phone. "Shit, seriously? When?" I sat up as he scowled at the couch. "Is he alright? No, yeah, I'll come now."

He shut his phone and stuffed it into his pocket with his large hands. "Sorry, Kim, I've gotta go. Family emergency crap."

"Oh."

Somehow, deep down, I knew that was a lie.

"I'll see you at school soon tomorrow, yeah?"

"Yep."

He leaned down and kissed my cheek and, despite my mixed feelings, my heart pounded. He ran out the front door, slamming it behind him. I clenched my teeth together and stared at the wall in thought.

To my horror, my brain kept going back to one question.

Could I really trust Jared?

* * *

**Thoughts?**

**Thanks for the reviews, favourites and alerts! Hope you enjoyed the chapter!**

**-Laylax**


	10. Clearwater

**Don't own anything except OC's.**

* * *

**Chapter 10: Clearwater**

**Kim's POV.**

The next day, Jared wasn't in school. In fact, he wasn't in school for the rest of the week. I worried, as usual, but this time I couldn't help but wonder if what he was doing had something to do with the secret. Late at night, when I couldn't sleep or was doing homework, my mind tended to come up with crazy things that the secret could be. Like Jared being an international spy or his parents really being aliens. Although I shouldn't have, I was obsessive on knowing what the secret was.

This disgruntled me. I was acting like one of those girls at school that was willing to do anything for a bit of gossip or a hint of a scandal. Normally, I would have been bothered about secrets because I knew most were lies or rumours. However, this time, knowing that it was _real_ had affected me. Also, the fact that Jared was the sole secret keeper (his involvement always made me interested) and that _I _was in on it (and didn't know it, mind you) and suddenly turned me neurotic.

_What the hell was the secret?_

On Monday morning I walked into English only to see Jared falling asleep on his desk. I stood at the doorway in shock for a moment before I pulled myself together and walked over to him. Gentle not to startle him, I shook his shoulder.

"Jared?" I said loudly.

He stirred and frowned as his eyes tiredly pried open. "Kim?"

"Yeah, are you alright?"

"Oh, yeah, tired."

"I can see that."

He leaned back and stretched. "Right, sorry. I didn't get any sleep last night."

"Why?"

"Various reasons."

_Damn._

I sat on the table to the right of his that was my regular seat since three weeks ago when Ingrid Morter was moved for talking too much. I peered at Jared, the dark circles under his eyes and how his eyes looked heavy.

"Jared, maybe you should go home and sleep."

"My mom won't let me. Said I'd already had too much time off and I wasn't going to get another one just to sleep," he yawned. "I'll survive."

He let out a strange noise during his yawn and almost fell of his chair when his neck lulled to the side.

"I'm not sure you will," I said quietly.

I took Jared by the hand for the rest of the day, guiding him through the halls and to lunch. Paul, who had also been forced by his dad to come to school, looked as tired as he did. He fell asleep on Erin's shoulder and she glared at him for twenty minutes straight before shoving him off and huffing. During lunch, I couldn't help but notice a couple of people were missing. Jacob Black, Embry Call and Quil Ateara, who were always seen together on the reservation, were not on their usual table near the vending machine. A few freshman's had took over the table and I frowned, remembering how Jared had been watching them like a hawk and now they were gone, just like he had over a month ago.

I wanted to bring it up to him, but he was so tired he couldn't form coherent sentences. By the time the last lessons of the day finished, I was pretty much carrying him to my car, and it wasn't easy, I'll tell you. Jared towered over me and weighed a few stone more than me. Sure, it was all muscle, but that didn't make him easier to carry. I threw him into the back of my car and drove him to my house. I knew where he house was, in La Push everyone knew where everyone else lived, but I didn't know if anyone would be inside and his parents might have thought I drugged him. Using all my strength, I took him into my house and threw him onto the sofa to sleep.

"Um, Kim, why is Jared asleep on our sofa?" Anna-Marie asked as she came in from netball.

I stirred the pasta I was making and turned to her. "He was basically a walking zombie today and I couldn't get him to his house, so I brought him here to sleep."

She smiled. "So you made up, then?"

"Oh, um, yeah." I handed her the bacon to cut into the sizzling pan. "He apologized, I apologized. He agreed to wait until I was ready to tell him."

"That's sweet," she smiled, taking the mushrooms from the counter and putting them next in line for her to cut up. "I'm so glad you guys made up. He made you really happy, still does, I suppose."

"Yeah…" I trailed off quietly.

Jared did make me happy, more than anyone else ever had. There was just something about him that brightened up my days and made me more excited for school. Yes, excited for _school_, that's how sad I was.

Mike came home from soccer soon after and repeated the questions Anna-Marie had asked. After finishing the pasta and setting up four bowls on the table, I went into the living room. Jared was still asleep so I repeated my actions from the morning.

"Mhmm…hey, Kim," he mumbled groggily.

"Hey, would you like some pasta?" I smirked as he rubbed his eyes. He straightened and rubbed his face with his hands.

"Am I in your house?" he asked, looking around. I nodded and smirked. "Wow, thanks. I can't remember anything after lunch."

"Its fine," I shrugged.

"I'd love some pasta, thanks," he said happily, jumping to his feet. "Hey guys," he greeted my siblings.

We ate dinner with idle chatter and, after cleaning up, my siblings ran upstairs to do homework and play on the computer. I led Jared to the sofa and sat to watch the T.V.

"How come you weren't in school?" I asked, nervously fiddling with the end of my jumper.

"Something happened… I can't say what."

"The secret?"

"Yes."

I paused, trying to think of a subtle way to go around my next question. Deciding there was no way, I took a deep breath. "Did it have something to do with Embry, Jacob and Quil?" the words spilled from my mouth.

"Yeah," he turned to me and I bit my lip. "How'd you know?"

"They weren't at school and they're hardly ever off, and never at the same time."

"Oh, yeah," he ran his hands through his hair and tugged on the ends in distress. "Quil…finally joined in on the secret and Jacob was being stupid and revealed the secret to someone who doesn't have the right to know."

"Why would he do that?"

"Like I said, he's stupid."

I licked my lips. "When are you going to tell me the secret?"

"When I know you're ready," he replied instantly.

"And when will you know?"

"When the time is right."

I huffed and crossed my arms over my chest. It may have been childish, but I didn't care. Knowing there was an important secret that I wasn't allowed to be told, but involved me in a big way made me want to scream. Honestly, I was shocked it bothered me this much. I blame hormones.

"I'm sorry you're upset," he leaned over to whisper in my ear. Goosebumps appeared all over my body. "But you'll know one day, I promise. I have to go now."

I whipped around to look at him. His face was two inches from mine. "Why?"

"I have to do something."

"Secret?"

"Yep."

"I hate secrets."

"Me too."

He kissed my cheek and he was off again, shouting thank you over his shoulder over and over until he was out of ear range. I sat and sulked for an hour while watching T.V. before going upstairs to do something productive; in other words, to do homework. I sat for the rest of the night, my pen tapping constantly against the desk table as I wondered and came up with stories about the secret could be. Also, why were Jake, Embry and Quil in on it? And, if my suspicious were right, Paul and Sam Uley? What were they all doing? Were they really selling drugs like people said?

_Nooo_… Jared wouldn't sell drugs. Neither would Jake, Embry and Quil, for that matter. They were cool, nice, normal guys. They wouldn't get themselves sucked into something like that. I couldn't even imagine Paul doing it, shocking I know, because the more I got to know him the more I realized he was a good guy, a little angry…all the time, but he had good intentions.

Jared selling drugs? The idea was preposterous. I laughed at myself and decided to go to bed, I was clearly going mad from lack of sleep.

For the rest of the week things went quite smoothly. Apart from my mental debates and raging emotions, everything else was normal. Jared and Paul didn't run away to do 'something' and they weren't off school. Jacob, Embry and Quil didn't return, I didn't expect them to. Jared told me they would be gone for a while, though people were starting to talk now they had all been gone for a week. The rumours had circulated already and I was awaiting for someone to say they had seen them around with Sam Uley.

On Friday, I slept at Erin's house with Anna-Marie while Mike slept at a friend's house. We spent the night gossiping and making four batches of brownies that Anna-Marie ate most of and then threw up. On Saturday I stayed at Erin's until mid-afternoon and then went home to finish off some homework. After dinner, the doorbell rang and I rushed to answer it.

"Jared?" I said worriedly as he leaned against the doorframe, holding his stomach as if he was about to be sick. "What's wrong?"

"Harry Clearwater—h-he—"

"He what Jared?" I asked sternly, panic welling up inside me.

"He died."

I gasped and I fell against the door. I hadn't been extremely close to Harry Clearwater, however, living in a small town like La Push it was impossible not to get to know people. Harry was one of the kindest men I had ever come across. When I was younger, he would always gave me a lollipop if he had one in his pocket. As I got older, I listened as he bragged about his children, Leah and Seth, and how proud he was. I always felt jealous at the love in his eyes when he spoke of his family. I remember thinking my dad never looked like that when he talked about my siblings and I, and that I would have liked to have had Harry as a dad.

I felt queasy, he couldn't be _dead_. I had seen him last weekend going on a fishing trip with his son. He had stopped me to ask about my studies and encouraged me to do my best, leaving with a wide smile on his face while waving in the wing mirror. And now he was gone, just like that. He had left his children and wife. God, they must be devastated.

"Oh no," I breathed. "No, oh God. When? Why? How?"

"He died this-afternoon from a heart attack…" he sniffled. "I didn't know where to go and I just seemed to come here."

"Jared," I said breathlessly, walking forward to hug him. He wrapped his arms tightly around my waist and dug his face into my neck. I shuddered slightly as he inhaled. "Were you close to him?"

"Yeah, I grew up with him around, you know? He and Sue used to come around for dinner sometimes so I could have playdates with Leah and Seth. He always brought over his 'famous' fish fry."

"How are Sue, Leah and Seth?" I asked reluctantly. I knew the answer and I hated the thought of them being in pain.

"They're crushed," Jared mumbled throatily. "Seth is completely devastated and Leah keeps blaming herself…it's awful."

"Where are they now?"

"At the hospital," he answered. "I escaped to get you…you make me feel better."

I smiled into his shoulder and then shook my head. It wasn't the time to be smiling. "Maybe we should go over," I suggested. "Support them, everyone must be grieving."

He nodded and I ran up the stairs to grab my keys. I knocked on my sister's door and saw her sat on her bed reading when I opened it.

"Hey, I have to go to the hospital, okay?" I said.

"What for?"

"To support Jared… Harry Clearwater died and he's really upset."

"Harry died?" she repeated in shock. "When?"

"Today, he had a heart attack."

"Oh," she mumbled. "I really liked him."

I smiled softly. "I did, too."

She gave a sad smile as I departed, telling her to look after Mike. Jared was waiting at the front door and I took his hand as we headed to my car. I held it all the way to the hospital and through the hallways as we went to where everyone else was gathered. There were a lot of people, or it may have seemed like a lot of people because half were about ten feet wide. I glanced around at all the sad faces and felt an overwhelming surge of grief. Tears prickled in my eyes but I blinked them back. I wanted to be strong, not only for Jared's sake but for everyone's.

In the corner I saw Sue Clearwater sobbing into Leah's shoulder while the beautiful young woman tried to comfort her mom and also wipe away her own tears. Seth was sat on the seats, his head in his hands and his shoulders shook violently. Jacob and Embry sat either side of him, patting his back and whispering comforting words. They didn't seem to help.

I squeezed Jared's hand and he turned his send me a small smile. He took me over to Paul and a much beefier Quil who were leaning against the wall with a look of pure disbelief on their faces.

"Hey man," Jared said quietly. "How's everything going?"

"Shitty," Paul replied gruffly. "I just can't believe he's gone."

"No one can," Quil muttered. "I've never seen Sue cry before..." he glanced over at her and flinched.

Jared shook his head and I reached up to rub his shoulder in what I hoped was a comforting manner. We stood in the corner for a long time in silence, all lost in memories and thoughts of Harry Clearwater. Jared tugged on my hand suddenly and we shuffled over to Seth who was now staring into space while tears fell down his cheeks.

"Hey man," Jared sat beside him, not letting go of my hand. "I just want to let you know I'm here if you want me," he patted the younger guys back softly. Seth nodded, unable to speak through his tears. Jared sighed and stood, letting Charlie Swan, the Forks police chief, sit and comfort Seth.

We stood around for a few hours together, watching as everyone grieved for the loss of the tribe. Jared gently pulled on my hand when it began to get dark outside. I followed, not saying a word as he led me back to my car. I unlocked it and climbed in as Jared ran around the passenger side.

"Thanks for coming tonight," he said as I started to engine. "It means a lot."

"No problem," I responded softly. "Where are we going?"

"Just back to your house. I have to go and tell my family."

Nodding, I headed for La Push and stared ahead in thought. I couldn't believe Harry Clearwater was dead. He was around the same age as my dad, I was sure my dad had mentioned him in school stories before. Harry was taken too soon, too quick. It was scary to think he, or anyone, could be walking and talking and loving their family one day and then gone the next, leaving everything and everyone behind.

I really hoped there was a heaven because Harry Clearwater deserved to be in it.

"Do you want a drink or something?" I asked as Jared walked me to my door.

"No, thanks," he shook his head. "You've done enough for me tonight."

"Jared—"

"Don't."

The words caught in my mouth as he leaned forward. I sucked in a surprised breath and flickered my eyes up to look at him. His dark brown eyes were dilated and focusing on me. Gulping, I licked my lips when his warm breath washed over my face. Jared reached up and cupped my right cheek with his rough hand and I anticipated his next move before he made it, so I easily wrapped my hands around his neck when he covered his lips with mine.

I felt like I was in a dream.

Since I was ten-years-old I had dreamt of Jared Cameron kissing me. In all my teenage girl fantasies of been kissed in the rain or swept off my feet by prince charming, Jared was my prince. Now Jared was actually kissing me and it was so much better than my imagination.

His lips fit on mine perfectly and his constant heat made my head spin. Fireworks exploded behind my eyes and a victory song echoed through my head as he moved his hand to rest on my waist. I pressed closer to him, tilting my head as I felt his tongue slip over my bottom lip. I panicked a little, I didn't have much experience in kissing guys, what if I wasn't a good kisser?

Jared sensed my hesitation and gently pried my lips open a little until I opened them myself. His tongue met mine and I almost collapsed, moaning softly as I wrapped my arms around his neck so hard I had stand on my tip-toes. I let him lead, following his movements as well as I could as we ran out of breath.

"Kim," he mumbled against my lips. Pulling away, he dropped a kiss on my cheekbone and my eyes slowly opened. We were close enough that our noses were skimming. "Kim, I—"

He was cut off by the loud howl of a wolf. Frowning, I glanced at the forest, it wasn't unusual to hear wolves in La Push but that wolf sounded distressed. My attention went back to Jared as he sighed and bit his lip in frustration.

"I'm sorry," he said gruffly. "I have to go—my family and—"

The wolf howled again.

"Shit, listen, I'll see you soon, okay?" he let go and I flinched at the cold. "I'm sorry, Kim."

He ran down the lawn and stopped at the front to look back. Looking regretful, he shook his head and ran off down the street and around the corner so I couldn't see him. Where was he going? Was it to do with the secret? Had the wolf had something to do with his departure?

Then I realized what had happened.

_I'd just kissed Jared Cameron_!

Holy shit.

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**Thoughts?**

**Thanks for the reviews, favourites and alerts! Hope you enjoyed this chapter!**

**-Laylax**


	11. Wolf

**Don't own anything except OC's**

* * *

**Chapter 11: Wolf**

**Kim's POV.**

Jared wasn't in school when the weekend was over. I waited for him at my locker until the bell rang, but he never came. Paul wasn't in either, or Jake, Embry, Quil and Seth. I knew it had something to do with the secret and I was worried. For them all to be off school there must have been something bad going on. However, I wasn't only worried, I was also curious and rather frustrated. Curious because I wanted to know how they were all so involved in the secret when they were all so different. Seth had only just turned fourteen, why was he involved so young?

I was also frustrated. The nature of the secret was making me see red. It was a big, life-changing secret, I could feel it, and yet I still didn't know what it was. The secret took Jared away for days at a time, it made him miss school, it had changed him in so many ways and that scared me. What could it possibly be? I also couldn't stop thinking about my involvement. He had said I was involved in a big way, but I didn't feel like I was. How could I be so important in the secret and not have a clue what it was? And how would it affect me in the future?

On Friday my brain had stopped working properly from thinking so much. Even Erin had noticed, commenting on Thursday that if she looked close enough she could see smoke coming out of my ears. When my brilliant, but rather oblivious, best friend began to realize there was something wrong, I knew I was going crazy.

I trudged through the rain and into the small school. Erin was stood talking to a Greta Maroon near our lockers and I carefully skirted around them. I didn't fancy talking to anyone that I didn't have to. I placed some of my calculus books into the locker and slammed it shut before walking to lessons. I went quietly through my day, I wanted to get home and into my bed with some ice-cream. When the final bell rang I waved goodbye to Erin and practically ran from the building.

However, on the way to my car I noticed someone. He was large, broad and insanely good-looking.

Jared.

"Jared?" I said, peeking through the rain. He nodded and pushed himself off his truck. "What are you doing here? Where have you been?"

"I came to see you," he took another step forward. "And I—I can't tell you."

"The secret?"

"Yeah, the secret."

I huffed, anger welling up inside me. "Right…of course. I have homework, bye Jared."

"What? Kim—"

I ran and his voice merged in with the rest of the students as they rushed through the rain. I dropped into my car and sped down the street. I felt guilty for leaving him like that, but I was sick of being in the dark. I was sick of hearing the same excuse and not knowing why it was so important that he do things that involved the secret.

I drove home but as I parked outside a truck pulled up behind me. I froze as Jared got out and slammed the door shut.

"Kim, what's wrong?" he asked worriedly. He stepped forward and I stepped back. He flinched and sighed. "What have I done?"

"I'm fed up, Jared," I admitted quietly.

"Fed up about what?"

"The secret," I snapped and then bit my lip regretfully. "I'm sick of not knowing what it is…why is it so important? How does it involve me?"

"Kim," he sighed. "It's big…I don't know if you'll take it well."

"You don't know until you try."

"I want to tell you, I do," his jaw clenched. "But I don't know if you're ready to know."

"I am!" I yelled, stomping my foot rather childishly but I didn't care. "I am! I _want _to know, Jared. I can deal with it…it's not illegal, right?"

"What? No, of course not. Is that what you thought?" he asked, frowning.

I shrugged and glanced away. It was the only thing I could come up with that would make him so secretive. What else would make him so jumpy and dedicated?

"I'll tell you soon," he promised.

"But will you?" I scowled through the rain. He gulped and I shook my head. "I need some time to think. Bye, Jared."

I turned and sprinted up the stairs. Closing the door behind me, I kicked off my shoes and collapsed onto the sofa. I never thought I would brush off Jared Cameron. It almost felt like a strange dream.

Sighing, I got my homework out of my bag and set it around me. I needed something to distract me.

The next day I spent finishing off work and watching movies with Anna-Marie. After showering, I went to bed and lay staring at the ceiling. What was Jared doing? Was he okay?

_Bang_!

I shot up and stared at the window in front of me. What the hell was that? My heart hammered as I waited for another sign that someone was there. My stomach leapt when another rock hit the window. Slowly and cautiously, I walked over to the window. Why, I didn't know. I felt like one of those women from the horror movies that people shouted "DON'T GO IN THE CLOSET!" at.

I peered around the corner and slumped when I saw who it was. Thanks to the dim light of the porch, I could see Jared stood under my window. Gulping, I shoved the window open and leaned out, the cold wind hitting my face and shoulders.

"Jared, what the hell are you doing?" I hissed as loudly as I could without waking my siblings.

"Move back!" he called up.

"What, why?"

"I'm coming up!"

"Are you serious?"

"Yes, now move back so I don't hurt you."

Doing as he said, I took a large step back and then shook my head at myself. What was I doing letting a teenage boy into my bedroom past midnight? A teenage boy that holds a huge secret…as in he could be an undercover assassin.

I really need sleep.

I watched with wide eyes as Jared climbed through the gap of my window. His large body carefully and silently crawled through my window, surprising me with his gracefulness. Someone of Jared's size shouldn't be graceful, he should have fell onto the floor. Finally inside my room, he glanced around until his eyes landed on me and he smiled gently. Even that small action made my heart stutter and I coughed uncomfortably.

"Kim," he breathed taking a step forward. I stood still, my body tingling as he got closer. All I could think about was our kiss. "I'm sorry," he professed once he got close, so close I could feel his burning skin. "You're right…I shouldn't have kept it from you for so long. There was just so much going on and I didn't want you to leave me—"

"Jared, I'm not going to leave you," I whispered. "I just want to know the truth."

"I know…I'm sorry."

"So what's the truth?" I asked, staring into his deep brown eyes. He looked tired and stressed and I almost told him to forget it and go home to sleep…but I _needed _to know. "What's the big secret?"

He stared at me, his eyes like lasers through my skull. Slowly, he cupped my face and sighed. He closed his eyes and then he said it.

"I'm a wolf."

* * *

**Thoughts?**

**Thanks for the reviews, favourites and alerts! Hope you like this chapter!**

**-Laylax**


	12. Determination

**Don't own anything except OC's.**

* * *

**Chapter 12: Determination**

**Kim's POV.**

"Um,_ what_?"

Those were the first words out of my mouth. I hadn't spoken for ten minutes, waiting for Jared to laugh and tell me he was joking around. He didn't turn into an animal really, he just wanted to see my reaction. However, it never came. He was still staring into my eyes, his expression a mix of serious, worried and anxious.

"I'm a wolf."

My stomach churned.

_Surely he wasn't serious?_

"You're lying."

He shook his head. "No, I'm not."

"You _have _to be."

"But I'm not."

The room began to spin and I stepped away from Jared, his heat and his confession too much to handle in the confine of my small room. I didn't stop walking until my legs hit my bed and I plopped down, my throat suddenly very dry.

"Kim, are you okay?" Jared rushed to kneel in front of me. "You're not going to faint, are you? Sam said Emily nearly fainted when he told her. Do you need water? Food?"

I shook my head furiously and took a deep breath. "What—what do you mean _wolf_?" I croaked.

"I mean one of those things that howls at the moon."

I glared at him, he stopped smiling.

"I'm a horse-sized wolf, Kim," he admitted, shrugging as if he had just told me he forgot to do his homework.

"And you think that's normal?" I squealed shrilly and then swore. I was going to wake Anna-Marie or Mike up. "Why are you acting like this isn't a big deal?" I hissed lowly.

"Because to me it's not," he replied. "I've been a wolf for months."

"And you never thought I needed to know this?"

"Of course I did…but I didn't want to tell you too soon and you get angry and…and leave or something. I wanted us to get to know each other, to be friends before I dropped the bomb of being a wolf," seeing my clenched jaw, he sighed. "You can't honestly say that if I told you from the beginning that you wouldn't have ran or called the mental hospital. Even I think I sound insane and I know it's true."

"But it can't be true," I jumped to my feet to pace around my bedroom. "It's not _possible_. How can someone _turn _into a _wolf_? That's not right, it's not…" I trailed off, my voice lost as I thought of why Jared would lie about something so stupid and trivial. Did he want to see if I would believe him? Did he want to see how far he could go without me losing my cool and shouting at him? What was in it for him?

"Kim, I'm not lying, I swear," he almost begged. "I'm a wolf."

I bit on my lip, staring at him to see a twitch of his lips or and body movement to show he was messing with me. There was none.

"Show me."

His eyes widened. "What?"

"Show me, become a wolf," I requested with an air of determination I didn't know I possessed. "If you're really a wolf, you can show me right?"

"Kim, it's half one in the morning…plus I'll mess up your room and—"

"So I was right, you are lying. I knew you were," I said.

It had the reaction I had wanted. Jared frowned and shook his head. "Fine." He snapped and I straightened up, hurt that he had snapped at me but too curious and excited to dwell for long. "Give me your hand," he demanded, holding his big one out for me.

My heart hammering, I took it, gasping as he threw me onto his back and skilfully climbed out the window. He landed on the floor soundlessly and jogged to the edge of the forest. I should have been afraid, scared that I was near the dark forest at half one in the morning with a potential wolf-man. But I wasn't, I was restless from excitement. I wasn't a person that broke the rules or did dangerous things and finally doing something so reckless was elating.

"Are you sure about this?" Jared asked, smirking at me cockily. "You can say no and we can go back."

"No." I murmured, licking my lips. "No, I want to see."

"Okay."

Nerves set in, my stomach dropped and my heart thumped against my ribcage painfully. I couldn't hear the rustling of the trees of the wild animals in the forest, my loud and vigorous heartbeat took over every other sound. My hands shook and I crossed my arms to stop them as Jared raised his eyebrows. I stuck my chin in the air and nodded twice, he smiled. That did little to settle my fear.

He reached for the bottom of his t-shirt and took it off in one smooth motion. My eyes snapped to his defined chest, the coppery colour that shined in the light of the moon and the thick muscles on his abdomen that made my mouth water. I gazed at him for a while and then realized what was happening.

"Jared, why are you taking you clothes off?" I squeaked, turning bright red.

He chuckled. "I have to. If I phase with clothes on they rip and I've already ruined too many clothes, so…" the corners of his lips curved as he placed his hands on his shorts.

Sucking in a sharp breath, I turned my head to the side and gulped. My whole body felt like it was on fire. I wanted to look, _so badly_, but if I looked I would get distracted and that wasn't going to answer my burning questions. Taking several deep breaths, I closed my eyes for a few seconds to try and calm my erratic heart.

"Kim, look," Jared's deep voice cut through the air and I turned slowly towards him. He was stood behind a nearby bush, his bottom half covered so only his beautiful face and chest were in sight. "Ready?"

I nodded, unable to speak.

He smiled softly at me, a change from his arrogant attitude seconds before. Then he started shaking. Not like he was cold or had a muscles spasm, but shaking so violently he was almost vibrating. I took an involuntary step forward and in that second, he burst from his skin and stood before me was a giant brown wolf.

_Shit._

My mouth fell open as I stared at the wolf. That couldn't be Jared, it wasn't possible, I was dreaming. My grip on my arms tightened to the point that I cut of circulation as the wolf carefully trotted from behind the bush and laid on his stomach. He looked at me, his deep brown eyes familiar and warm…

"Jared," I whispered. The wolf wagged its tail. I couldn't help but giggle. "Shit, it really is you."

The wolf nodded.

"Oh, shit," I breathed shakily. "You're a wolf…I'm starting to see why you kept it from me for so long."

He barked softly and ran back to the bushes. A minute later, human Jared stepped out fully clothed and with a small smile on his face.

"I can't believe it," I muttered as he stood in front of me. "You're a _wolf_."

"I told you," he replied smugly and I rolled my eyes. Laughing, he took my hand in his and I couldn't help the grin that crossed my face. Taking this as a good sign Jared lifted me onto his back. He strolled back to my house and I rested my chin on his broad shoulder.

"Am I heavy?" I asked quietly.

"Nope, I have super strength, I can lift a car and still run up a hill."

Sniffling, I lifted my head up so his raven hair tickled my cheek. He smelt like ginger and something I couldn't distinguish, though it smelt delicious. My hand slipped along his left bicep as I moved and I glanced down at his face. It was strange to think that this man, this man I had crushed on since I was ten, could easily turn into a wolf. In the blink of an eye, he could change species. It was mindboggling, weird, crazy…amazing, astounding, beautiful.

"What else can you do?" I questioned.

"Um…I have super hearing."

"Really? How far can you hear?"

"I can hear Mike talking in his sleep," he replied, sniggering. "He's being chased by a cookie monster."

I glanced up from Jared's profile and saw that we were at the end of my street. My house was visible but only just. I couldn't even see my car yet. "Wow," I mumbled. "What else?"

He laughed at my excited voice. "I have super speed, I can run to Canada in about an hour. I can see and smell really well. In wolf form I have sharp teeth to rip up vampires—"

"_Vampires_?" I spat, interrupting him loudly.

"Oh, yeah. I hunt vampires. That's why I became a wolf, to destroy them."

"And you failed to mention this before, _why_?"

"Forgot."

My grip on his neck loosened. "Destroy them?"

"Yeah, we kill them before they hurt a human," he explained lightly. "The presence of a vampire triggers a gene in us that makes us phase. Once we phase, we're one of the only threats to vampires in the world. We're one of the only thing that can kill them so we kill as many as we can, but not many come through the La Push area. Well, until now."

"So you destroy them? They can't hurt you?"

"Well, yeah. Their venom is poisonous to us, but us getting killed by a vampire is less likely than being struck by lightning. There's usually too many of us for the vampire to dare to fight so they run. When they run, we catch them and kill them, or they escape but are so freaked out by our existence they don't dare to come back."

"P-poisonous?" I stuttered in fright. "Jared—"

"Don't worry, Kim. It's nothing to freak out about, promise. I'm really good at being a wolf, believe it or not. The chance of me getting hurt is nearly none existent."

"But there's still a chance," I whispered lowly. "You can't die, Jared."

Suddenly he pounced through the air and landed in my bedroom. I hadn't even noticed getting near the house. Jared placed me onto the floor and turned to me, his hand smoothly moved from my thigh to my hip. "I don't plan to, Kim," he said. "And I probably won't."

"Probably?"

"Well, there's always a chance," he responded like he had thought all this through. If it was hard for me to deal with, I couldn't imagine what it was like to for him. "A very _slim _chance, but still."

I nodded as my mind began to shut down. I was tired and it had been a long, informative and unbelievable day. "Okay," I said though it really wasn't.

"I think you better sleep, I'll go—"

"Stay with me."

"What?"

"Stay," I requested, grabbing his hand tightly. "I want you to stay."

He nodded slowly, looking shocked. I couldn't blame him, I had shocked myself, but I didn't want him to leave yet. He had shared a big secret with me and our relationship had deepened without me even trying. I didn't want to share something so amazing with him and then be left alone. I wanted him with me, to wake up in the morning with him beside me to let me know this was all real and that I wasn't going crazy. I led him to my bed and got into the cover, pulling him down with me. Feeling awkward, I peered up at his face to see him smiling. He opened his arm out for me and I slipped into the crook of it, grinning like a loon as I closed my eyes.

Who would have thought I'd share a bed with Jared Cameron?

The next thing I knew the bathroom door slammed shut, waking me from my slumber. Light streamed through my partially closed curtains and I groaned, rubbing my eyes. Something moved beside me and I jumped, almost screaming when I saw Jared asleep.

It had been real. All of it. Jared at my window, being a wolf, the forest, me asking him to stay…

I blushed and cringed. I hadn't been thinking straight, so tired from the day's events and my midnight wonder into the forest to really care about what I said. Now was different, I was no longer overly confident from lack of sleep and, God, I had practically _begged _him to stay with me. I must have sounded so desperate and whiny…

"Morning."

His voice shocked me. I whipped away from the wall that I had been scowling at and smiled shyly at Jared. He was grinning widely, his eyes hooded with sleep as he stared at me. I flushed again and tucked my hair behind my ear.

"So last night really happened then?" I asked and then shook my head at myself.

_Of course it happened, idiot, why else would he be in your bed?_

"Yeah," he chuckled. I gnawed on my bottom lip and his eyebrows knitted together. "Are you okay with it still?"

"Yes…apart from the whole vampire, poison thing."

"I told you to forget about that," he shuffled forward to grab my hands.

"It's hard to forget."

He nodded and kissed my hand. My heart jolted.

"D-do you want to get breakfast?" I whispered.

Jared agreed eagerly and we quickly ran downstairs. I started off helping him with the food but I was so distracted by my thoughts I couldn't make my hands moved. Jared eventually took over, stopping once in a while to ask where something was. I stood leaning against the kitchen counter as I watched him cook, the memory of him phasing stuck in my mind. A _wolf_. In all my wildest thoughts I had never thought of Jared being a wolf. Then again, who would? It should be impossible and now it wasn't and it was mindboggling.

We ate our breakfast in mostly silence. I washed the dishes and then went into the living room. Jared was leant against the back of the sofa and watched me as I came into the room. Flustered, I stood in front of him and shuffled.

"Kim, are you okay?" he asked lowly.

"What do you meant?"

"You're acting weird…are you okay with the wolf thing…I mean I can give you some time—"

"No, no. It's just…it's weird. I thought stuff like this was impossible and now I find out the guy I'm dating turns into a wolf…it's a lot to take in."

He grinned widely, "Dating, huh?" he smirked and I blushed. "I get it…but make sure you tell me if you're not okay with anything. I'd rather you talk to me than keep it in."

"I promise."

"Awesome."

We were close now, inches apart and I leaned towards his heat. Smiling, he bent down and then his lips were on mine and my stomach exploded into butterflies. He enclosed me with his long arms so I had to stand on my tiptoes to keep the kiss going…and God I wanted it to keep going forever.

I wondered if all kisses felt like this or if only Jared could stir these emotions inside me. I had kissed only two other guys, a boy called Curtis when I was eight as a dare on the playground, and my "boyfriend" Dean when I was thirteen and we wanted to know what making out was like. It had been sloppy and awkward and we had broken up a week later because he bored me with his constant talk of football.

Then again, Jared had been the only guy who I had ever really wanted to kiss and that made them a hundred times better.

I was so occupied with Jared that I didn't notice nor hear the front door opening and closing.

"Kimberly!"

I jumped away from Jared like I had been electrocuted. My parents stood near the doorway, their jaws slack and eyes wide.

_Shit, shit, shit!_

"Mom, dad," I panted shakily. "What are you doing home?"

"I think the better question is why this boy in our home?" mom screamed, pointing wildly at Jared.

"He's—he's—"

"I'm Jared Cameron, Kim's…boyfriend."

Despite the situation, my heart skipped a beat and I smiled softly as I looked over at him. He winked at me and I sighed. Sadly, my mom didn't take the gesture as well as I did.

"Get out of my house!" mom yelled.

Jared gulped and turned to me with a concerned look. "Kim—"

"Go Jared," I muttered and he frowned. "It's fine, I'll call you later."

Nodding, he took one last look at my parents and disappeared out the door.

Turning, I faced my parents determinedly.

I was finally ready to confront them.

* * *

**Thoughts?**

**Thank you for the reviews, favourites and alerts! Hope you all like this chapter!**

**-Laylax**


	13. Truths

**Don't own anything except OC's.**

* * *

**Chapter 13: Truths**

**Kim's POV.**

"Kimberly Francesca Connweller," mom growled. "What _were_ you thinking bringing a boy into this house without us here? And your siblings are upstairs—"

"Oh, so _now _you care about us!" I snapped. Mom recoiled in shock. "It's not that when you leave us for days and weeks on end without even a phone call to check in!"

"Kimberly, don't speak to you mom like that."

"That's rich. You always talk to her like that. In fact, it's the _only _way you talk to her."

"That's not true—"

"Isn't it? Could have fooled me, _dad_."

Mom was frowning, her usually cold and collected face showing the most emotion I had ever seen her use. "Kim, why are you saying this now? Is it that boy? Is he making you rebel?"

"No mom," I almost whined. She never took blame, she always found someone else that she could put her guilt onto so she could feel better. Whether it be dad, me, Anna-Marie, my grandma…it didn't matter as long as she didn't feel fault. "You were never _here_!" I stopped, taking a deep breath to stop the tears. I thought I didn't care, that their absence was normal and just apart of like, but talking about it was bringing up old emotions. The pain from the missed Christmas plays at my school or how they were 'too tired' to go to my parent-teacher meetings. "Not just in the house, but with us. You never cared enough about us. We're your children—I'm your _daughter_ and I feel like you love your job more than you love me!"

My mom shuffled uncomfortably. "We could have been worse," she defended.

I snorted, how typical. "Sure, you could have. You could have been a lot worse, but you could have been a hell of a lot better." I paused, watching as my dad glanced around the room avoiding my eyes and my mom looked longingly at the front door as if she wanted to escape. "And you still haven't denied that you love work more than me—more than us."

Dad coughed and put his briefcase on the floor. "Kim, of course we love you, we love all of you…it's just our job means a lot to us. I mean it's what pays for all this," he motioned around the house, the expensive pictures and the flat screen telly.

"That would mean more if that wasn't the only time I remember you telling me you love me," I said bitterly, my heart thumping from anger, hurt and nervousness. "You can't buy our love dad, materialistic things mean nothing when you want your parents to comfort you over a bad grade or help you with homework, instead of calling you stupid and to figure it out ourselves."

"Okay, I'm sorry for saying that but—"

"Why?" I interrupted my mom before she defended herself or tried to make herself blameless. "Why have you not cared? What did we do? Why did you have us if you wanted to work?"

Everything was silent for a long time. Occasional movements were heard upstairs from my siblings and three cars passed the house. My dad dropped onto the sofa and ran his hands through his hair. My mom watched him for a while and then shook her head.

"Mom?" my voice cracked and I hated it.

"I never wanted kids," my mom finally spit out. My dad groaned. "I wanted to be a lawyer, it was my dream. I worked so hard in school and college to become one and it was all I ever wanted," she paused, a tear ran down my right cheek and I wiped it away. My heart felt like it was going to explode and not in the same way it did for Jared. I felt like someone was dropping bricks onto my chest, slowly crushing me and blocking my breathing. "It was our deal," she motioned to my dad who was sitting with his head in his hands. "We would put work first, us second. It was the main reason we married. It worked perfectly until about three years after the wedding. Your grandparents…well, they weren't getting any younger and they were _begging _for grandchildren. My mom mentioned it every time I saw her, she wanted a grandchild."

"So you had me?" I questioned quietly after she stopped talking.

She nodded. "My mom promised she would look after you once I had you. She did, and when I got pregnant with Anna-Marie she looked after her, too," she bit her lip and sighed. "And then when you went to middle school my parents suddenly decided to move to San Francisco. I had no one to look after you and I quit work for a while and decided to become a full-time mom, I even had Mike…but I missed work. It was the only thing I had ever truly wanted to do and I didn't want to give up my dreams. Your grandma agreed to watch over you while I worked and by then by the time she got too old you were fourteen, I just figured you'd all be okay as long as neighbours watched over you and your grandma popped in once in a while."

"I was _fourteen_," I cried. "I wanted to hang out with friends and complain about school. I didn't want to look after my siblings every night!"

"I just—I never thought it would matter—"

"Of course it mattered! I wanted to be a normal teenager and you _made _me stay inside and do homework and cook and clean and look after Anna-Marie and Mike. I didn't want that! Did you ever think about us?"

"Of course I did but—"

"Stop making excuses!" I squealed and she clenched her jaw. "You never wanted us and then we just became a burden so you left us to fend for ourselves. How motherly of you."

"Hey, I tried, okay? But I felt like I was drowning when I was here. I never wanted to be a mom or a housewife, I wanted to be a lawyer! It what I was born to do and I wasn't about to give that up for—" she stopped suddenly, slamming her hand over her mouth.

"For us," I finished for her with a cold laugh. "We were second priority in your eyes. I get it now. You resented us for being _born_, we never had a chance," my eyes swerved to my dad when he sniffled. "And what about you dad?"

"I—I never really thought about it from your point," he admitted sadly. "Being a lawyer was all I ever wanted too…I never meant to put you second," he whispered.

"Oh, so it was a subconscious priority list?" I snorted. "I don't know if that's better or worse."

"Kim—"

"No, I'm sick of listening to you." I stated emotionlessly, spinning on my heels.

"Where are you going?" dad shouted after me but I ignored him, flinging myself into my car and speeding off.

I pulled outside of his house just as the tears began to fall. As I stumbled out the car Jared's front door ripped open and he ran down to grab me. I was sobbing, my whole body wracking with strange noises I had never made before. It was embarrassing that I was basically having a breakdown in front of Jared, but he was also the only person that I wanted to be around. His comfort and warmth outweighed my girly emotions and I fell into his arms, clinging to him as he carried me into the house.

"Kim," Jared said concernedly. "Kim, what's wrong? What happened?"

"T-t-they," I stuttered hysterically. He wiped my tears from my cheeks with his thumbs and told me to take a deep breath. "W-we had a f-fight," I whispered shakily.

He nodded, taking my hand and squeezing.

"M-my mom admitted she didn't r-really want m-me. She s-said I was b-born because of my g-grandparents," I said.

"What?"

"I asked her why she cared more about work than us," I continued after a minute of calming down. "And she said my siblings and I were pressure from my grandparents and that she never really wanted us…that all she really wanted to do was be a lawyer. Basically, we come second to their stupid job," I snapped. "I knew, really. I shouldn't even be crying…but it—it just really hurt."

"It's bound to, Kim. They're you parents."

I shrugged. "It's always been that way. Job before family. I understand that now but when I was younger I always felt so alone, you know? My parents were always at work and I had to look after my siblings. I always felt like I never had anyone to talk to or to help me…that no one cared."

"Kim—"

"I feel stupid," I admitted, wiping my eyes with my sleeves. "We have a nice house and I have my siblings as my family."

"It's not stupid if it's the way you feel, Kim," he soothed. "It would kill me if my parents said something like that."

"I should expect it from them now. I've had sixteen years of it."

"You've got me now," he mumbled after several seconds. "If you ever want to talk to someone, I'll always be here."

I smiled softly and kissed him. He responded immediately, wrapping his arms around my waist as best he could in our position. The second his tongue slipped past my lips, my cell phone rang. Cursing lowly, I reached into my back pocket.

"Hello?"

"Kim, Kim?" Anna-Marie said quickly. "Kim, where are you? Mom and dad are having a really bad argument and they won't stop shouting—"

"I'll come home now."

"Okay."

I flipped the phone shut and turned to Jared apologetically. He smirked knowingly and pecking my lips as we stood. I kissed him again at the door, purely for being so cute and sweet, and then raced home. Anna-Marie opened the door as I pulled up and I wrapped my arm around her shoulders, guiding her into the house where I could hear my parents screaming at each other in the kitchen.

"Kim." Dad breathed as I stood at the doorway. Mom whipped around to stare at me, her face bright red and lips curled like they always did when she was angry. "Where have you been?"

"Jared's," I replied truthfully.

He scowled but didn't say anything.

"We're sorry we upset you," mom said with a slight twitch. "That wasn't our intention, I swear…but we can't change, Kim. I never meant for you to feel the way you do…but my job—"

"I get it," I nodded, blinking back another onslaught of tears. "I didn't assume different…I've learnt only disappoint comes with you two."

Sighing, I turned and shoved Anna-Marie up the stairs. She walked into my bedroom and sat on my bed as I closed the door.

"What happened?" she whispered, watching me as I went over to my wardrobe and changed into my sweat pants.

"A big fight," I answered, slipping of my baggy sleeping top and throwing it into the laundry basket. She was still watching me when I had pulled on my clean top.

"Tell me."

Nodding, I sat on the end of the bed and told her everything. From how I felt when I was younger to what my parents had said hours before. Anna-Marie broke down in the end, sadly confessing she felt the same way. It only made me feel worse, I had been so caught up in self-pity that I had forgotten my sister and brother could, and did, feel the same way I did.

I hugged her, it was the only thing I could think to do. I comforted her in the way I should have been all along.

My siblings and Jared were my family and we would get through it, together.

* * *

**Thoughts?**

**Thanks for the reviews, favourites and alerts! Hope you like this chapter! Sorry for the late update I was so busy writing that I didn't realize it was late!**

**Also, I put photo's from my stories on photobucket! The link is on my profile!**

**-Laylax**


	14. The pack

**Don't own anything except OC's.**

* * *

**Chapter 14: The pack**

**Kim's POV.**

**Chapter 14.**

"Kim."

I groaned, stirring in protest at the voice that was waking me up.

"Kim, get up." The voice paused. "Kim, you're suffocating me."

My eyes flew open and I blinked rapidly, only to realize I was hugging my sister like a teddy-bear. Snorting, I let go and she moaned as she stretched out.

"My legs," she whined. "I think my muscles have frozen."

"You wouldn't be moving if that had happened," I pointed out logically. She stuck her tongue out. "I must have thought you were a pillow or something."

"Well, thanks. That makes me feel better."

"Sorry," I shrugged, pulling her to her feet. She glared and rubbed her eyes. "Come on, we'll go and get breakfast."

"What are you doing up?" Anna-Marie asked Mike as we went into the kitchen.

He looked up from his cereal and sniffed. "I was seriously thinking about eating my sparkly pasta box so I thought it was time to come and eat," he answered. "Kim, mom and dad told me to tell you that they've gone away for four days on some business thing."

Anna-Marie halted in her actions of pouring out two bowls of cereal for three seconds and then continued. Clenching my teeth, I took a seat beside Mike and kissed the side of his head. He made a scoffing noise and I rolled my eyes, accepting the bowl Anna-Marie offered.

I didn't know why, but it hurt to know they had left so soon. Less than 24 hours ago I had spilled everything to them, cried in front of them, and now they were gone. Without so much as a goodbye or a note, they had left for four days. I wanted to kick and scream furiously but I bit it down. They weren't going to change, they weren't going to suddenly switch their priorities because I had confronted them. If anything they were going to avoid me more.

They cared, in their own strange, messed up way, they did care about us. They gave us money, presents and food, and I knew they would help us if we ever needed it. Maybe they weren't built to be parents, maybe they had tried their best and I was being too hard on them, but I was past trying. I loved them, they were my parents, but we were never going to have the close relationship I had always yearned for.

I would accept that…one day.

There was a knock at the door, I stepped into the living room when it opened and Jared grinned widely at me. Just seeing him made me feel giddy.

"Hey," I greeted.

He walked over and kissed my cheek. I bit my lip shyly. Yesterday rushed through my mind like a movie, the tears, the red nose, the blubbering…I must have looked terrible. "Hey," he smiled. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm good," I answered, blushing. "My parents have gone away for four days."

His jaw clenched. "Okay."

"It's fine, I got my answers yesterday and I can get over it now…" I muttered, licking my dry lips. "Anyway, what are you doing here?"

"I wanted to ask you something. I'm going to Emily's tonight for dinner with…with the pack," he lowered his voice and glanced at the kitchen where he could surely smell and hear Anna-Marie and Mike. "Do—do you want to come?"

I blanched. "What?"

"I want you to meet them," he grinned cutely and my stomach dropped. "They're family and you're…well, you're really important to me so I want you to meet, maybe get along. Emily's dying to meet you."

I laughed nervously at the thought of meeting all those people. Those big, loud, _wolf_ people. "I—I don't make a very good first impression," I muttered.

_What if they don't like me?_

"Yeah you do," he argued. "You're kind and smart and—they'll love you, promise."

I opened my mouth to respond but didn't have anything to say. The thought of meeting these people—'the pack'—made my stomach flop. They were important to Jared and if they didn't like me, what would happen? What if I said something stupid or insulting?

Sensing my apprehension, Jared's face fell. "It's fine if you don't want to come. I'll make an excuse."

"No," I shook my head. "It—what about my siblings?"

"We've got plans!" Anna-Marie shouted from the kitchen. "I'm sleeping at Julie's and Mike is sleeping at Deon's!"

"There you go," Jared beamed. "You don't have to worry about them."

I sent a look to the kitchen though Anna-Marie couldn't see it. I looked into Jared's big brown eyes and relented. He was convincing me and with his beautiful cheeky smile, I was letting him.

"Okay, I'll come."

He perked up and swooped down to grab my face into a passionate kiss. "Thanks," he panted. "I'll pick you up at five, okay? See you later."

He left then, me staring after him with slightly wide eyes. His kisses never failed to leave me breathless.

Anna-Marie skipped into the living room and demanded to help me pick out my outfit. I let her, too skittish about what was going to happen tonight. Would one of the guys phase? Would they like me?

At ten to five I was sat on the stairs pulling on my converses and nervously glancing at the living room clock. My fingers started dance when it turned five o'clock, unable to keep still from anxiousness. I didn't know what was worse, finding out Jared was a wolf or meeting the pack.

Jared's truck came into view and he beeped twice. My siblings rushed from the kitchen with their bags and down the front lawn as I locked the door. They paused only to wave goodbye and then they were gone, both off to their respective sleepover. Gulping, I tucked my keys into my back pocket and got into the truck. Jared, looking as handsome as ever, smiled at me and took my head as I settled into the seat.

"Nervous?" he chuckled as he started to drive.

"A little," I admitted shyly. "They're just all so big and…wolfy."

"Wolfy?" he howled with laughter. "They won't be in wolf form, Kim," he assured me. When I didn't answer, he squeezed my hand. "I made them promise to be on their best behaviour. Leah even promised she wouldn't bite."

It was meant to be a joke but his comment made my heart stutter. Wolves had large, sharp, _scary _teeth…God, what if one of them lost their temper? I would faint, embarrassing myself giving them a story to hold against me for the rest of my life. What about my perfume? Was it too strong for their sensitive noses? Would they see my spots with their super eyesight?

It was stupid things to worry about, but I couldn't help it. As if meeting my boyfriend's friends wasn't nerve wracking enough, these friends were also super natural animals that, I realized in that moment, I really didn't know much about. Jared had explained simple details, what if there was more too it? What if one of them had super natural powers like controlling fire? Was that possible?

Okay, I really needed to calm down.

We pulled up outside a small house and, despite my roaring emotions, I had to smile at the marigolds under the window. They were cheerful and bright, a massive contrast to the dull weather outside. Jared once again opened my door for me and took my hand as we walked up to the house.

"Oh, by the way, don't stare," Jared muttered.

"Stare?"

He flinched. "You'll see."

Confused, I was led by Jared into the house and I barely had time to register that we hadn't knocked and that I needed to tell Jared off when I was engulfed into a tight hug.

"I'm so glad you came," a happy voice said in my ear. "It's going to be so good to have another imprint around."

The woman pulled away and I had to stop myself from gasping when I saw her face. One side, so beautiful and clear, the other marred with three angry scars.

_Don't stare!_

My breath caught in my throat and I swallowed loudly. She beamed at me, though the right side of her lips looked more like a grimace due to the scar that caught the corner of her lip. Blinking repeatedly, I got myself out of my curious daze and gave her a tense smile.

"I'm Emily," she introduced melodically.

"Kim," I shook her outstretched hand which I noticed was also scarred.

"I'm glad to finally meet you," she breathed. "Jared has been talking about you none stop."

"Have not," Jared mumbled childishly.

I sent him a soft smile and he grinned boyishly.

"He has," Emily waved off his protest. She gently took my hand and led me forward until she stepped aside to reveal a bunch of muscular men. "Guys, this is Kim, say hi."

I got a chorus of hello's from them and Paul smirked at me from his seat on the chair near the fireplace. I peeked around at the faces of the men and realized that most weren't men but were in fact in my year at school or younger. Jake, Embry and Quil sat on the sofa, squished as they stuffed their faces with food. On the floor was Seth Clearwater, quietly munching on a large sandwich. My eyes moved to the stairs and I saw a pair of long russet legs. Leah Clearwater was lounging on them, her expression bored and tired as she stared at the wall before her. She was gorgeous, unbelievably so, and seemed to have gotten even more beautiful in the past few weeks though I knew she has always been a looker.

Her big brown eyes connected with mine in that moment and I flushed, quickly looking away. Leah had an aura about her that made me sure I didn't want to mess with her. She was always sassy and passionate, but since she and Sam had broken up she had turned bitter to the point of being mean. I understood, what girl wouldn't be pissed? I certainly would have been, and I definitely wouldn't be in their house quietly sitting on the stairs. I didn't want to annoy her even more by staring at her, I didn't want her to think I was staring for the wrong reasons.

"Would like anything, Kim?" Emily asked as Sam pulled her onto his lap. He kissed her scarred cheek and buried his face into her neck, she giggled.

"No thanks," I replied.

She nodded, turning her full attention towards Sam to cup his cheek. Slightly anxious, I peered over at Leah. She wasn't looking at anyone, still staring avidly at the wall. Sighing, I turned away and leaned closer to Jared. I found it quite rude that they would do something so affectionate in front of Leah when they knew how much she was hurting, but I could also see how much they loved and adored each other. It was instinct, they weren't showing off or trying to make Leah feel bad, they were showing their adoration like a normal couple.

I supposed I needed to hang out with them more before judging. How did I know their normal habits when I had only seen them a handful of times and never spoken to them?

Jared led me to a spare seat and gently placed me on his lap. Smiling, I wrapped my arm around his shoulders as Jake abruptly stood and walked out the front door.

"What's up with him?" Seth questioned.

"Bella," Embry rolled his eyes. "She's been…adventurous lately."

"Bella? Adventurous?" Paul grumbled unbelievingly. "Since when? Apart from the vampire thing, she's boring as hell."

"I don't know. He said something about it…I stopped listening when he said her name for the thirtieth time."

"Who's Bella?" I whispered to Jared.

"A human from Forks," Paul answered and Jared glared at him. "Jake's obsessed with her and since her _precious_ Edward left, they've been inseparable."

"Edward's a vampire," Jared informed me, my eyes bulged.

"Does she know?"

"Yeah. They were together and then he left because it was too dangerous," his face told me it was a long story. "It's a messy thing."

The guys nodded in agreement and were silent for a few seconds, then they went back to what they were doing. Jake returned fifteen minutes later with a frown on his face. For the rest of the afternoon I stayed quiet, watching the pack from Jared's lap as they made jokes and laughed together.

It was strange seeing them all together. They were different personalities and ages, thrown together by the secret they shared. Without the werewolf secret, they wouldn't be the big dysfunctional family they looked to be. I wondered if they ever thought like me, did they ever think about their life without the secret? Would they like to be normal? If they had the choice, would they take everything back, loose the relationship with the pack to be normal teenagers again?

After Jared ate his body weight in food, we said goodbye and got into his truck.

"Jared," I murmured as we pulled away.

"Yeah?"

"If you could, would you stop being a wolf?"

He turned to glance at me. "What? Why would you ask that?"

"I was wondering," I shrugged. "I know there's perks to being a wolf and stuff…but it's got to be really hard with the…the vampires and danger. Would you stop being a wolf? Would you take it back?"

"At first, yeah," he replied after a while. "The pain when you first phase…it's awful. Like your bones and skin are stretching too fast and it burns real bad…" he paused and cringed. I squeezed his hand tightly. "Anyway, the anger is hard to get in control and I felt like there was nothing good about being a wolf. But as time went on I realized the good things," he smiled brightly, his whole aura changing. "And then I saw you and I loved being a wolf."

"You saw me?" I questioned confusedly. "What would seeing me do?"

Suddenly tense again, he froze for a split second and then ground his teeth together. Sighing, he gazed at me as he pulled off to the side of the road. I frowned until he lifted my hand and kissed it, an action like that could make any girl soften. His deep brown eyes bore into me, his lips pursed.

"Kim, do you know what imprinting means?"

* * *

**Thoughts?**

**Thanks for the reviews, favourites and alerts! Hope you like this chapter and don't forget I've now got pictures from the story on my photobucket, the link can be found on my profile!**

**Also, I've started school again this week and, sadly, my updates won't be as frequent. The only spare time I now have are on the weekends, and even then it is only a few hours. So, I'm really sorry, but my stories may slow down. I'll try to write, I promise! But I'm training to be a vet and it takes a hell of a lot of hours!**

**-Laylax**


	15. Love

**Don't own anything except OC's.**

* * *

**Chapter 15: Love**

**Kim's POV.**

My head fell automatically sideways.

"Imprinting?" I repeated. "Like an imprint of something in your skin?"

"No…well, yes, but that's not what I'm talking about," he shook his head, engulfing my right hand with his large ones. "Imprinting…imprinting is something that wolves do," he said, his eyes flickering to me to take my reaction. I nodded, eager for him to carry on. "It complicated, no one really knows how it works or why, but there's theories. You see, Sam imprinted on Emily."

"Huh?" I grunted, then blushed vividly at my awkwardness.

"Sam imprinted on Emily when he was still dating Leah," he said as if this explained everything. Seeing my puzzled face as I tried to work it out, he continued. "He found his soul-mate, the person he is meant to be with forever. They were made for each other."

My heart sped up as he stared at me.

"What about Leah?" I found myself asking breathlessly.

"That didn't matter," Jared answered instantly. "Well, it wasn't that Leah didn't matter to Sam, he cared for her, still does. But Emily…Emily became his life, his world. She was the only person he could think about."

"How?"

"He looked into her eyes…that's all it takes."

I blinked. "Just like that? They make eye contact and they're brainwashed?"

"Not brainwashed, Kim. Imprinting is the most perfect thing in the world. Without being a wolf, the couple would have ended up together somehow. Imprinting is just a push from fate, it doesn't change it."

"How do you know?"

"I—I don't, really. But the feelings, the strength of it…it can't be explained any other way. It _has _to be fate. Nothing else makes sense."

"Imprinting doesn't make sense," I cried back. Admittedly, I was a little freaked, and if my conclusion was correct, I was about to have a panic attack in the next five minutes. "Being a wolf doesn't make sense…_none of this makes sense_!"

"Kim—"

"Imprinting," I interrupted shrilly. "That's what you did, didn't you? That day in history class when you couldn't stop staring…oh, God. It all makes sense now. How you suddenly noticed me after ten years of being in the same classes!" I yelled, ripping my hand from his. "It wasn't a change of heart, it was a freaky wolf thing. You were practically forced to do it…you wouldn't even know me if it wasn't for the imprint."

"Yes I would! Kim, please—"

I nearly relented. The look in his eyes made tears spring to my eyes, so heartbroken and lost. Shaking my head, I reminded myself that his feelings, his care and kindness towards me was all a lie. One big, fat, supernatural lie.

Against my better judgement, I started to cry.

"I can't believe this," I whispered shakily. "How could you do this? How could you lie and play with me like that?"

"Kim—"

"Shut _up_!" I screamed, yanking the door handle and throwing myself out the truck. "You—you idiot!" I snapped as he walked over to me. He gently grabbed my arm and I flinched back. "Leave me alone, Jared," I mumbled before running down the road.

I wasn't far from my house and I pushed my legs as fast as they would go. When I got to my bedroom, I collapsed onto the bed and sobbed. I felt like a pathetic teenage girls from a romance movie, but I didn't care. My heart was throbbing like someone had beat it to a pulp and then shoved it back into my body. Everything from the past couple of months was a lie. The fluttering feelings, the smiles, the kisses…they were all forced by a stupid wolf thing. Jared hadn't been the one to do those things, to make me feel like a princess, it had been the 'imprint'. The stupid connection that Jared hadn't chosen to do, he hadn't chosen to be with me. The imprint had made him be with me.

If he had had the choice, would he have still imprinted on me? No, I knew he wouldn't. He would have chosen a pretty, popular girl with an awesome personality and a winning smile. He wouldn't have picked me, plain Jane Kim Connweller. My crush would have gone unnoticed forever, he never would have noticed me in history class that day.

I fell into an uneasy sleep that night after homework. When I awoke the next day, my eyes swollen and red, I stumbled downstairs and ate some cereal. My siblings were still at their sleepovers, leaving me alone with my clumsy and crowded thoughts. One side was telling me I was stupid, that Jared had been my dream guy since I was ten and now I was _denying _him. Why would I deny _Jared_? The other side, however, told me to be strong, to not give into the imprint. I had to stick to my morals, I couldn't let the imprint make my life a lie.

Jared may think he was happy with me, but was he really, or was it the imprint making him _think _he was happy?

It was more confusing than my algebra homework.

Later that day while I was sat on the sofa completing some homework that didn't have to be in for three weeks, there was a knock on my door. Throwing my papers onto the floor, I pulled the door open and Emily was stood attentively in front of me.

"Emily? What are you doing here?"

She smiled softly, her grip on her bag tightening. "I came to see you," she replied. "Jared came to my house last night…Kim, he's devastated."

I cringed, even though I wanted to hate him, his pain made me ache. "Oh, well…sorry."

"That's not what I meant, Kim. I—I came to talk to you about the imprint. Jared told me about what you said…I think I might be able to help you, I know you must be confused and angry and annoyed…I _know_, Kim."

I stared at her, my eyes flickering to the red scars on her face and then to her almond-shaped brown eyes. Biting my tongue, I stepped aside for her to come in. She was too nice to say no to and I also wanted to hear what she had to say. I motioned to the sofa, she smiled with one side of her lips as she sat.

"Sorry about the papers," I said quietly, kicking them aside.

"Its fine," she intertwined her fingers on her knees. "I know how you feel, Kim. I felt exactly the same way when Sam told me about the imprint…even more so because of Leah," she paused, gulping loudly. "I refused the imprint…in fact, I hated the imprint. I kept calling Sam awful names, telling him he belonged in a mental home. I didn't understand, I was so confused with my feelings and everything he was telling me."

She ran a hand through the ends of her shiny raven locks. I fiddled with my pant leg, feeling the tension of the room grow as she opened her mouth to continue. "We were the first, you see. We had no one to go to for advice, both of us had no idea what was going on or how to handle it. One day I was so angry at myself and I said Sam was like his dad," her eyes slammed shut, like what she said pained her. "His dad's a horrible man, one of the worst I've ever heard of. Sam's nothing like him…that was when I got this," she pointed to her scars.

"W-what?" I spluttered. "_Sam _give you that?"

She nodded as if we were talking about the weather. "He was a new wolf, unable to control his anger and he just…phased. Both of us had no idea what was happening until Jared and Paul came running over and called for Sue to help," she sniffled. "Everything was a mess after that. I figured out Sam was the black wolf and I asked Jared where Sam was…Jared told me Sam wasn't doing too well. Despite what happened, I didn't hate Sam. For some reason I _knew _it wasn't his fault. I know you think I'm crazy, I would too, but it's hard to explain. Anyway, I went to see Sam and I found him staring at a bunch of pills bottles. He told me he'd tried to kill himself by getting ran over by a bus and when that didn't work, he was going to try and overdose."

I gasped, leaning back into the sofa in shock at her story. Never would I have expected something like that. The story was so complicated and messed up. I couldn't imagine what Emily had gone through, it was confusing enough for me, and I found myself wanting to hug her tight but refrained.

"We saved each other. In the hospital I realized Sam was the only person I wanted by my side and I felt incomplete without him. After that, Sam and I got together and I understood the true meaning of imprinting. It's not forced or stupid…its fate. I believe even without the imprint Sam and I would be together because we were _meant_ to be with each other. Even if it took an extra fifteen or twenty years, we would have ended up together eventually because that was what life had planned for us. Imprinting is just a nudge in the right direction."

I opened my mouth to respond but I had no words. What did I say to that?

"Give the imprint a chance, Kim," she leaned forward to pat my knee. "You won't regret it."

She stood, I silently let her out the door and watched as she walked down the front lawn and out of sight.

Was she right?

She had to be, didn't she? After all, she was an imprint, too, and she and Sam had been through so much together and they always looked happy…

Had I overreacted? Maybe imprinting really was a nudge in the right direction. Jared made me happy and I could tell by the look in his eyes that he felt the same way about me…maybe imprinting was what we needed to finally be together. Imprinting could have made Jared mature enough for us to be together, for him to realize what was right in front of him.

Even when I wanted to hate Jared, I didn't regret our time together. I cared for him even when I shouldn't have, I missed him being around, I felt lost without him…I loved him.

Laughing softly at myself, I shook my head and tugged on the ends of my hair.

I _loved_ him. I _loved _Jared Cameron.

And not in a teenage crush kind of way that made my stomach soar, but the real, selfless kind of love that I had seen and read about. Jared had had my heart since we were ten-years-old, I wasn't about to take it back now because of a wolf thing that, in the end, really made no sense at all. Jared and I were meant to be, I had known at ten-years-old, and the imprinting had opened Jared's eyes and made our relationship happen a little sooner than I would have without it.

Running my hands over my face, I ran up the stairs and changed into the nearest clothes I could find. Grabbing my car keys, I ran to my car and drove to Jared's house as fast as the law would allow me. Adrenaline was pumping through my veins when I pulled up outside his house. Halfway up his front lawn, the front door opened and Jared stood in the doorframe with dark circles under his eyes and slumped shoulders.

"Jared," I breathed, rushing forward. "How'd you know—?"

"I smelt you," he answered gently. "You have the most amazing scent."

Snorting, I stepped forward. "Jared, I—"

"You don't have to say it, Kim. We can just be friends if that's what you really want—"

"Jared—"

"Just—just go easy on me, okay? If I step out of line spray me with water or something—"

"Jared, I don't want to be friends," I rolled my eyes as his rambling. He looked like he'd stopped breathing. "I want to be with you…as a couple," I admitted shyly. "I—I love you, Jared," I confessed as heat consumed my face. "I want us to be together."

His mouth fell open and his eyes widened. He made a croaking noise, ran his hands through his hair and then stared at me again. I started to get nervous, had I said it too soon? Clenching my jaw, I tucked my hands into my pocket and shuffled.

It took him a second to take me into his arms and pull me into a kiss that left me breathless.

"I love you too," he mumbled against my lips.

If I hadn't been putting all my effort into kissing him, I probably would've cried. I had always wanted Jared to say those words to me and they were finally happening.

With that thought, I knotted my fingers into his short hair and moaned.

My fairy-tale had come true.

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**Thoughts?**

**Thanks for the reviews, favourites and alerts! Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter and remember about the pictures on my profile!**

**Fair warning, next chapter is a lemon. This story has the rating M for a reason and if you don't like them, I'd just skip near the end of the chapter where there's a little bit of fluff. **

**Two more chapters left of this story!**

**-Laylax**


	16. My wolf

**Don't own anything except OC's.**

**WARNING! This chapter is basically all lemons (it's rated M for a reason), so if you don't like them, skip to near the end. There's some cute stuff there.**

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**Chapter 16: My wolf**

**Kim POV**

Before I knew it, I was on the bed with Jared on top of me while I ran my hands up and down his torso like my life depended on it.

His large hand rested on my bare hip, his heat sending jolts through my skin. He kept his hand on the inch of skin between my jeans and top, taunting and teasing me. Groaning, I wiggled until my top rested above my belly button and his hand skimmed across my waist, I gasped.

"Kim." He muttered throatily.

"Mhmm?"

"Do you want to stop?" he asked, nuzzling his face into my neck.

I shook my head knowing he could feel the movement against his cheek. Chuckling lightly, he feathered kisses along my neck and jaw as I wrapped one of my legs around his waist without thinking. Jared fiddled shakily with the end of my top and I arched to allow him to take it off, leaving me in a black bra. Immediately, I blushed, not only was I almost half naked in front of someone for the first time in my life, but I was half naked with _Jared_.

Jared pulled back, his arms enclosing me underneath him. I smiled nervously as he looked down at me with his beautiful brown eyes. Jared—_my _Jared—grinned widely and that was enough to make my tense shoulders slump. Shuffling down, he placed a light kiss near the waistband of my jeans and paused, as if to wait for my reaction. Despite my internal fight to not make any embarrassing noises, I sucked in a tight breath. Liking this, Jared kissing the same place again before moving along the waistband, only to move up my stomach and ribcage.

When his nose brushed against my bra, my body burst into goose bumps and I curled my fists into the pillow under my head. He carried on up the valley of my chest until he got behind my ear and sucked.

God, nothing had ever felt so good.

It was unbelievable that such an unobvious place could cause all the sensations I felt. Everything inside me jumped and twisted as Jared glided his hands down the sides of my body. One hand moved to the leg that was around his waist, the other landed on my bra strap.

"Kim, can I…" he tugged lightly.

I opened my mouth to stop him, to say maybe we had gone too far…but I realized I didn't want to. I loved Jared, we were made for each other, we were going to be together forever and I wanted to be with him like this.

I answered, "Yes."

The strap of my bra clicked undone. Torturously slow, he pulled the straps down my arms and threw my bra onto the floor. My top half was naked, fully exposed. My heart started to beat uncontrollably. Closing my eyes, I turned my head to the side so I couldn't see Jared's face.

He dropped a long kiss onto my neck. "You're fucking beautiful," he told me passionately.

My eyes opened to see Jared's dark blue bed sheets. I smiled softly only for it to turn into a loud moan as his tongue circled my nipple. My breathing got heavy, my body burned, my brain throbbed against my skull. He moved to the other one, I clawed at the fabric beneath me in pleasure. He stopped suddenly, my eyes popped open to see Jared on his knees taking off his top and getting a small silver packet from his bedside table. I grinned at him when he was done, catching his face in my hands when he fell onto me. I pushed my tongue to meet with his and buckled as Jared grabbed my hips. The friction caused sparks to shot from my toes to my brain.

Our actions became frenzied, we tugged and clawed at each other until we were both naked, his hard member pressed into my thigh once he had finished putting on protection. I ran my hands over his smooth, sculptured body, greedily taking in the perfection. The connection of our mouths didn't break for a second, which I loved because I could spend the rest of my life kissing Jared.

He moved so his member rested at my entrance. I started to hyperventilate, I was about to have _sex_. Shit, shit, shit! What if I wasn't any good? Did it really hurt as bad as everyone said?

The answer was yes, it really fucking hurt. I felt like I was about to be split in two for a second and my noises of pleasure changed to a squeak of pain. Jared halted completely, his face a mix of concern and desire. This made me relax again and I nodded to let him know it was okay to move. He did, very, very slowly. My clenched eyes loosened with each thrust and, gradually, the discomfort went away and I was left feeling euphoric.

I opened my eyes to watch his russet chest as he moved, the way his muscles tensed and the sheer of sweat on his skin. His pace increased along with my bliss. I withered under him, his constant heat causing me to feel slick and deliciously dizzy. The colours of the room merged together, spinning like a hurricane as an unfamiliar tightening started in my abdomen. I grasped his slightly wet hair, crying out when he moved deeper inside me, which stung but also hit something that made me see stars.

"Mmm, don't stop," I demanded. He didn't and he leaned down for a deep kiss. "Ah, Jared!" I grunted, digging my nails into his shoulder.

He looked down at me with a shine in his eyes—I couldn't explain it, really. It was the way Sam looked at Emily, a look I never thought I would get from someone. I felt like the Mona Lisa or a precious, priceless diamond. It was like I was the only person in the world that he wanted to see.

I could only watch Jared's face when he put his forehead on mine and released. Cupping his face, I sighed and held onto his back with my other hand. We were both out of breath, sweaty, tired and a little shocked, but it was the most wonderful moment of my life.

After catching his breath enough, Jared fell onto his side and hugged my waist. Kissing my forehead, he gently laid his hand on my stomach. I fell asleep in his arms, a smile on my face.

I awoke the next day hot and sore. Detaching myself from Jared's arms, I opened my eyes to see he was staring at me.

"Are you watching me sleep?" I asked groggily.

"Yeah," he laughed. "I'm weird like that."

"Good to know."

He kissed me lightly, I sighed dreamily…I couldn't help it.

I put all my effort into hiding the ache in between my legs as Jared showed me the bathroom. I cringed my way through a shower and was happy to find my uncomfortableness was better once I was washed. Jared had went to use his parent's bathroom shower and was waiting for me on the bed when I came out. He stood, grinning happily as I fell into his outstretched arms.

"Are you all right?" he asked.

"I'm brilliant," I answered truthfully. "But I think I should get back to my house. Anna-Marie and Mike are probably wondering where I'm at."

After another short kiss, we drove to my house and I couldn't stop feeling like I was on cloud nine. My siblings had left notes on the kitchen counter saying they had gone out so Jared and I went to my bedroom. He sat on my bed and I took the spare time to tidy the upstairs in the way I liked, even telling Jared to sit down when he offered to help. When I was satisfied, I threw some clothes into the laundry basket in the hallway and went to join Jared.

He was sat on my bed reading something…my heart dropped when I noticed what he was reading. My history notebook, in other words, the book I had wrote 'Kimberly Cameron' in the day he had returned from turning into a wolf. He looked up when I entered, a shit-eating grin on his face.

"Kimberly Cameron, huh?" he smirked and I covered my face, utterly mortified. He chuckled and I sunk further into my hole of embarrassment. "Don't look like I've kicked your puppy…I think it's cute."

"More like you think I'm a stalker," I murmured.

"No I don't...it sounds…good."

I uncovered my face to stare at him. "Good?"

"Good."

I couldn't help but laugh.

"I hope that's not your way of proposing," I said, my heart skipping a beat at the prospect.

"No, of course not. When I ask you it will be rose petals, candles, a hot tub," he listed, wrapping his long arm around my waist. "It'll be the best proposal ever."

"Who says I'll say yes?"

"Your heart. I can hear it thumping."

God, did I blush.

Our lips connected and just as things got heated, a wolf howled in the distance. Jared swore and I rolled my eyes as he pulled away.

"That's your call to leave," I said quietly.

"I know."

We stayed in each other's arms, the wolf howled again.

"It might be important."

"Or it might be Paul being an idiot. He's probably bit Embry again."

Another howl.

"Go." I pushed his broad chest.

Groaning mockingly, he kissed me again and then ran to the window and jumped. I watched him jog into the woods, shaking my head when he turned and blew me a kiss.

I was happy, so happy that I thought I may explode. Jared and I were together, I was his, he was mine…forever. I had gotten my prince charming and I was never going to let him go. The imprint, the supernatural, I would embrace it all if it meant Jared and I could be together.

Another howl broke through the tranquillity of La Push.

Jared…_my wolf._

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**Thoughts?**

**Thanks for the reviews, favourites and alerts! Remember pictures on my profile!**

**Sorry for the late update, life has been hectic and I didn't have time to update! Thank you for being patient!**

******Also, I personal reading question that I'm curious about, do you guys like First Person POV or Third Person POV better? I'm writing a new story and I can't decide which one I prefer, so I'm asking my trusted readers!**

**-Laylax**


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